Ch. 24
That we ought not to be moved by a desire of those things which are not in our power.
LET not that which in another is contrary to nature be
an evil to you: for you are not formed by nature to be
depressed with others nor to be unhappy with others, but
to be happy with them. If a man is unhappy, remember
that his unhappiness is his own fault: for God has made
all men to be happy, to be free from perturbations. For
this purpose he has given means to them, some things to
each person as his own, and other things not as his own:
some things subject to hindrance and compulsion and
deprivation; and these things are not a man's own: but
the things which are not subject to hindrances, are his
own; and the nature of good and evil, as it was fit to be
done by him who takes care of us and protects us like a
father, he has made our own.But you say, I have parted
from a certain person, and he is grieved.Why did he
consider as his own that which belongs to another? why,
when he looked on you and was rejoiced, did he not also
reckon that you are mortal, that it is natural for you
to part from him for a foreign country? Therefore he
suffers the consequences of his own folly. But why do
you570 or for what purpose bewail yourself? Is it that you
also have not thought of these things? but like poor
women who are good for nothing, you have enjoyed all
things in which you took pleasure, as if you would always
enjoy them, both places and men and conversation; and
now you sit and weep because you do not see the same
persons and do not live in the same places.Indeed you
deserve this, to be more wretched than crows and ravens
who have the power of flying where they please and
changing their nests for others, and crossing the seas
without lamenting or regretting their former condition.
Yes, but this happens to them because they are irrational
creatures.Was reason then given to us by the gods for
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the purpose of unhappiness and misery, that we may pass
our lives in wretchedness and lamentation? Must all
persons be immortal and must no man go abroad, and
must we ourselves not go abroad, but remain rooted like
plants; and if any of our familiar friends goes abroad,
must we sit and weep; and on the contrary, when he returns, must we dance and clap our hands like children?
Shall we not now wean ourselves and remember what
we have heard from the philosophers? if we did not listen
to them as if they were jugglers: they tell us that this
world is one city,571 and the substance out of which it has
been formed is one, and that there must be a certain period,
and that some things must give way to others, that some
must be dissolved, and others come in their place; some to
remain in the same place, and others to be moved; and
that all things are full of friendship, first of the gods,572 and
then of men who by nature are made to be of one family;
and some must be with one another, and others must be
separated, rejoicing in those who are with them, and not
grieving for those who are removed from them; and man
in addition to being by nature of a noble temper and
having a contempt of all things which are not in the
power of his will, also possesses this property not to be
rooted nor to be naturally fixed to the earth, but to go
at different times to different places, sometimes from the
urgency of certain occasions, and at others merely for the
sake of seeing. So it was with Ulysses, who saw
Of many men the states, and learned their ways.573
And still earlier it was the fortune of Hercules to visit
all the inhabited world
Seeing men's lawless deeds and their good rules of law574
casting out and clearing away their lawlessness and introducing in their place good rules of law. And yet how
many friends do you think that he had in Thebes, bow
many in Argos, how many in Athens? and how many do
[p. 272]
you think that he gained by going about? And he married
also, when it seemed to him a proper occasion, and begot
children, and left them without lamenting or regretting
or leaving them as orphans; for he knew that no man is
an orphan; but it is the father who takes care of all men
always and continuously. For it was not as mere report
that he had heard that Zeus is the father of men, for he
thought that Zeus was his own father, and he called him
so, and to him he looked when he was doing what he did.
Therefore he was enabled to live happily in all places.
And it is never possible for happiness and desire of what
is not present to come together. For that which is happy
must have all575 that it desires, must resemble a person
who is filled with food, and must have neither thirst nor
hunger.But Ulysses felt a desire for his wife and wept
as he sat on a rock.Do you attend to Homer and his
stories in every thing? Or if Ulysses really wept, what
was he else than an unhappy man? and what good man
is unhappy? In truth the whole is badly administered,
if Zeus does not take care of his own citizens that they
may be happy like himself. But these things are not
lawful nor right to think of: and if Ulysses did weep
and lament, he was not a good man. For who is good if
he knows not who he is? and who knows what he is, if he
forgets that things which have been made are perishable,
and that it is not possible for one human being to be with
another always? To desire then things which are impossible is to have a slavish character, and is foolish: it is
the part of a stranger, of a man who fights against God
in the only way that he can, by his opinions.
But my mother laments when she does not see me.
Why has she not learned these principles? and I do not
say this, that we should not take care that she may not
lament, but I say that we ought not to desire in every
way what is not our own. And the sorrow of another is
another's sorrow: but my sorrow is my own. I then will
stop my own sorrow by every means, for it is in my power:
and the sorrow of another I will endeavour to stop as far
as I can; but I will not attempt to do it by every means;
[p. 273]
for if I do, I shall be fighting against God, I shall be
opposing Zeus and shall be placing myself against him in
the administration of the universe; and the reward (the
punishment) of this fighting against God and of this disobedience not only will the children of my children pay,
but I also shall myself, both by day and by night, startled
by dreams, perturbed, trembling at every piece of news,
and having my tranquillity depending on the letters of
others.Some person has arrived from Rome. I only hope
that there is no harm. But what harm can happen to
you, where you are not?From Hellas (Greece) some one
is come: I hope that there is no harm.In this way every
place may be the cause of misfortune to you. Is it not
enough for you to be unfortunate there where you are, and
must you be so even beyond sea, and by the report of letters?
Is this the way in which your affairs are in a state of
security?Well then suppose that my friends have died
in the places which are far from me.What else have
they suffered than that which is the condition of mortals?
Or how are you desirous at the same time to live to old
age, and at the same time not to see the death of any
person whom you love? Know you not that in the course
of a long time many and various kinds of things must
happen; that a fever shall overpower one, a robber another, and a third a tyrant? Such is the condition of
things around us, such are those who live with us in the
world: cold and heat, and unsuitable ways of living, and
journeys by land, and voyages by sea, and winds, and
various circumstances which surround us, destroy one man,
and banish another, and throw one upon an embassy and
another into an army. Sit down then in a flutter at all
these things, lamenting, unhappy, unfortunate, dependent
on another, and dependent not on one or two, but on ten
thousands upon ten thousands.
Did you hear this when you were with the philosophers?
did you learn this? do you not know that human life is
a warfare? that one mail must keep watch, another must
go out as a spy, and a third must fight? and it is not pos-
sible that all should be in one place, nor is it better that
it should be so. But you neglecting to do the commands
of the general complain when any thing more hard than
[p. 274]
usual is imposed on you, and you do not observe what
you make the army become as far as it is in your power;
that if all imitate you, no man will dig a trench, no man
will put a rampart round, nor keep watch, nor expose
himself to danger, but will appear to be useless for the
purposes of an army. Again, in a vessel if you go as a
sailor, keep to one place and stick to it. And if you are
ordered to climb the mast, refuse; if to run to the head
of the ship, refuse; and what master of a ship will endure
you? and will he not pitch you overboard as a useless
thing, an impediment only and bad example to the other
sailors? And so it is here also: every man's life is a
kind of warfare, and it is long and diversified. You must
observe the duty of a soldier and do every thing at the
nod of the general; if it is possible, divining what his
wishes are: for there is no resemblance between that
general and this, neither in strength nor in superiority
of character. You are placed in a great office of command
and not in any mean place; but you are always a senator.
Do you not know that such a man must give little time
to the affairs of his household, but be often away from
home, either as a governor or one who is governed, or
discharging some office, or serving in war or acting as a
judge? Then do you tell me that you wish, as a plant,
to be fixed to the same places and to be rooted?Yes,
for it is pleasant.Who says that it is not? but a soup is
pleasant, and a handsome woman is pleasant. What else
do those say who make pleasure their end? Do you not
see of what men you have uttered the language? that it
is the language of Epicureans and catamites? Next while
you are doing what they do and holding their opinions,
do you speak to us the words of Zeno and of Socrates?
Will you not throw away as far as you can the things
belonging to others with which you decorate yourself,
though they do not fit you at all? For what else do they
desire than to sleep without hindrance and free from compulsion, and when they have risen to yawn at their leisure,
and to wash the face, then write and read what they choose,
and then talk about some trifling matter being praised by
their friends whatever they may say, then to go forth for
a walk, and having walked about a little to bathe, and then
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eat and sleep, such sleep as is the fashion of such men?
why need we say how? for one can easily conjecture.
Come, do you also tell your own way of passing the time
which you desire, you who are an admirer of truth and
of Socrates and Diogenes. What do you wish to do in
Athens? the same (that others do), or something else?
Why then do you call yourself a Stoic? Well, but they
who falsely call themselves Roman citizens,576 are severely
punished; and should those, who falsely claim so great
and reverend a thing and name, get off unpunished? or
is this not possible, but the law divine and strong and
inevitable is this, which exacts the severest punishments
from those who commit the greatest crimes? For what
does this law say? Let him who pretends to things which
do not belong to him be a boaster, a vain-glorious man:577
let him who disobeys the divine administration be base,
and a slave; let him suffer grief, let him be envious,
let him pity;578 and in a word let him be unhappy and
lament.
Well then; do you wish me to pay court to a certain
person? to go to his doors?579 If reason requires this to be
done for the sake of country, for the sake of kinsmen, for
the sake of mankind, why should you not go? You are
not ashamed to go to the doors of a shoemaker, when you
are in want of shoes, nor to the door of a gardener, when
you want lettuces; and are you ashamed to go to the doors
of the rich when you want any thing?Yes, for I have no
awe of a shoemakerDon't feel any awe of the richNor
[p. 276]
will I flatter the gardenerAnd do not flatter the rich
How then shall I get what I want?Do I say to you, go as
if you were certain to get what you want? And do not I
only tell you, that you may do what is becoming to yourself? Why then should I still go? That you may have
gone, that you may have discharged the duty of a citizen,
of a brother, of a friend. And further remember that you
have gone to the shoemaker, to the seller of vegetables, who
have no power in any thing great or noble, though he may
sell dear. You go to buy lettuces: they cost an obolus
(penny), but not a talent. So it is here also. The matter
is worth going for to the rich man's doorWell, I will go
It is worth talking aboutLet it be so; I will talk with
himBut you must also kiss his hand and flatter him with
praiseAway with that, it is a talent's worth: it is not
profitable to me, nor to the state nor to my friends, to have
done that which spoils a good citizen and a friend.But
you will seem not to have been eager about the matter, if
you do not succeed. Have you again forgotten why you
went? Know you not that a good man does nothing for
the sake of appearance, but for the sake of doing right?
What advantage is it then to him to have done right?And
what advantage is it to a man who writes the name of
Dion to write it as he ought?The advantage is to have
written it.Is there no reward then580 ?Do you seek a
reward for a good man greater than doing what is good
and just? At Olympia you wish for nothing more, but it
seems to you enough to be crowned at the games. Does it
seem to you so small and worthless a thing to be good and
[p. 277]
happy? For these purposes being introduced by the gods
into this city (the world), and it being now your duty to
undertake the work of a man, do you still want nurses also
and a mamma, and do foolish women by their weeping move
you and make you effeminate? Will you thus never cease
to be a foolish child? know you not that he who does the
acts of a child, the older he is, the more ridiculous
he is?
In Athens did you see no one by going to his house?
I visited any man that I pleasedHere also be ready to
see, and you will see whom you please: only let it be
without meanness, neither with desire nor with aversion,
and your affairs will be well managed. But this result
does not depend on going nor on standing at the doors,
but it depends on what is within, on your opinions.
When you have learned not to value things which are
external and not dependent on the will, and to consider
that not one of them is your own, but that these things
only are your own, to exercise the judgment well, to form
opinions, to move towards an object, to desire, to turn
from a thing, 'where is there any longer room for flattery,
where for meanness? why do you still long for the quiet
there (at Athens), and for the places to which you are
accustomed? Wait a little and you will again find these
places familiar: then, if you are of so ignoble a nature,
again if you leave these also, weep and lament.
How then shall I become of an affectionate temper? By
being of a noble disposition, and happy. For it is not
reasonable to be mean-spirited nor to lament yourself, nor
to depend on another, nor ever to blame God or man. I
entreat you, become an affectionate person in this way, by
observing these rules. But if through this affection, as
you name it, you are going to be a slave and wretched,
there is no profit in being affectionate. And what prevents
you from loving another as a person subject to mortality,
as one who may go away from you. Did not Socrates love
his own children? He did; but it was as a free man, as
one who remembered that he must first be a friend to the
gods. For this reason he violated nothing which was becoming to a good man, neither in making his defence nor
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by fixing a penalty on himself,581 nor even in the former part
of his life when he was a senator or when he was a soldier.
But we are fully supplied with every pretext for being
of ignoble temper, some for the sake of a child, some for a
mother, and others for brethren's sake. But it is not fit
for us to be unhappy on account of any person, but to be
happy on account of all, but chiefly on account of God who
has made us for this end. Well, did Diogenes582 love
nobody, who was so kind and so much a lover of all that
for mankind in general he willingly undertook so much
labour and bodily sufferings? He did love mankind, but
how? As became a minister of God, at the same time
caring for men, and being also subject to God. For this
reason all the earth was his country, and no particular
place; and when he was taken prisoner he did not regret
Athens nor his associates and friends there, but even he
became familiar with the pirates and tried to improve
them; and being sold afterwards he lived in Corinth as
before at Athens; and he would have behaved the same,
if he had gone to the country of the Perrhaebi.583 Thus is
freedom acquired. For this reason he used to say, Ever
since Antisthenes made me free, I have not been a slave.
How did Antisthenes make him free? Hear what he says:
Antisthenes taught me what is my own, and what is not
my own; possessions are not my own, nor kinsmen,
domestics, friends, nor reputation, nor places familiar, nor
mode of life; all these belong to others. What then is
your own? The use of appearances. This he showed to
me, that I possess it free from hindrance, and from com-
[p. 279]
pulsion, no person can put an obstacle in my way, no
person can force me to use appearances otherwise than I
wish. Who then has any power over me? Philip or
Alexander, or Perdiccas or the great king? How have they
this power? For if a man is going to be overpowered by
a man, he must long before be overpowered by things. If
then pleasure is not able to subdue a man, nor pain, nor
fame, nor wealth, but he is able, when he chooses, to spit
out all his poor body in a man's face and depart from life,
whose slave can he still be? But if he dwelt with pleasure
in Athens, and was overpowered by this manner of life,
his affairs would have been at every man's command; the
stronger would have had the power of grieving him. How
do you think that Diogenes would have flattered the
pirates that they might sell him to some Athenian, that
some time he might see that beautiful Piraeus, and the
Long Walls and the Acropolis? In what condition would
you see them? As a captive, a slave and mean: and what
would be the use of it for you?Not so: but I should see
them as a free manShow me, how you would be free.
Observe, some person has caught you, who leads you
away from your accustomed place of abode and says, You
are my slave, for it is in my power to hinder you from
living as you please, it is in my power to treat you gently,
and to humble you: when I choose, on the contrary you
are cheerful and go elated to Athens. What do you say to
him who treats you as a slave? What means have you of
finding one who will rescue you from slavery?584 Or cannot
you even look him in the face, but without saying more do
you intreat to be set free? Man, you ought to go gladly to
prison, hastening, going before those who lead you there.
Then, I ask you, are you unwilling to live in Rome and
desire to live in Hellas (Greece)? And when you must
die, will you then also fill us with your lamentations,
because you will not see Athens nor walk about in the
Lyceion? Have you gone abroad for this? was it for this
reason you have sought to find some person from whom
you might receive benefit? What benefit? That you may
[p. 280]
solve syllogisms more readily, or handle hypothotical
arguments? and for this reason did you leave brother,
country, friends, your family, that you might return when
you had learned these things? So you did not go abroad
to obtain constancy of mind, nor freedom from perturbation,
nor in order that being secure from harm you may never
complain of any person, accuse no person, and no man may
wrong you, and thus you may maintain your relative
position without impediment? This is a fine traffic that
you have gone abroad for in syllogisms and sophistical
arguments585 and hypothetical: if you like, take your
place in the agora (market or public place) and proclaim
them for sale like dealers in physic.586 Will you not deny
even all that you have learned that you may not bring a
bad name on your theorems as useless? What harm has
philosophy done you? Wherein has Chrysippus injured
you that you should prove by your acts that his labours
are useless? Were the evils that you had there (at home)
not enough, those which were the cause of your pain and
lamentation, even if you had not gone abroad? Have you
added more to the list? And if you again have other
acquaintances and friends, you will have more causes for
lamentation; and the same also if you take an affection
for another country. Why then do you live to surround
yourself with other sorrows upon sorrows through which
you are unhappy? Then, I ask you, do you call this
affection? What affection, man! If it is a good thing, it
is the cause of no evil: if it is bad, I have nothing to do
with it. I am formed by nature for my own good: I am.
not formed for my own evil.
What then is the discipline for this purpose? First of
all the highest and the principal, and that which stands as
it were at the entrance, is this; when you are delighted
with anything, be delighted as with a thing which is not
[p. 281]
one of those which cannot be taken away, but as with
something of such a kind, as an earthen pot is, or a glass
cup, that when it has been broken, you may remember
what it was, and may not be troubled. So in this matter
also: if you kiss your own child, or your brother or friend,
never give full license to the appearance (φαντασίαν), and
allow not your pleasure to go as far as it chooses; but
check it, and curb it as those who stand behind men in
their triumphs and remind them that they are mortal.587
Do you also remind yourself in like manner, that he whom
you love is mortal, and that what you love is nothing of
your own: it has been given to you for the present, not
that it should not be taken from you, nor has it been given
to you for all time, but as a fig is given to you or a bunch
of grapes at the appointed season of the year. But if you
wish for these things in winter, you are a fool. So if you
wish for your son or friend when it is not allowed to
you, you must know that you are wishing for a fig in
winter.588 For such as winter is to a fig, such is every
event which happens from the universe to the things
which are taken away according to its nature. And
further, at the times when you are delighted with a thing,
place before yourself the contrary appearances. What
harm is it while you are kissing your child to say with a
lisping voice, To-morrow you will die; and to a friend
also, To-morrow you will go away or I shall, and never
shall we see one another again?But these are words of
bad omenAnd some incantations also are of bad omen;
but because they are useful, I don't care for this; only let
them be useful. But do you call things to be of bad omen
except those which are significant of some evil? Cowardice
is a word of bad omen, and meanness of spirit, and sorrow,
and grief and shamelessness. These words are of bad
omen: and yet we ought not to hesitate to utter them in
order to protect ourselves against the things. Do you tell
me that a name which is significant of any natural thing
is of evil omen? say that even for the ears of corn to be
[p. 282]
reaped is of bad omen, for it signifies the destruction of
the ears, but not of the world. Say that the falling of
the leaves also is of bad omen, and for the dried fig to
take the place of the green fig, and for raisins to be made
from the grapes. For all these things are changes from a
former state into other states; not a destruction, but a
certain fixed economy and administration. Such is going
away from home and a small change: such is death, a
greater change, not from the state which now is to that
which is not, but to that which is not now.589 Shall I then
no longer exist?You will not exist, but you will be
something else, of which the world now has need:590 for
you also came into existence not when you chose, but
when the world had need of you.591
[p. 283]
Wherefore the wise and good man, remembering who he
is and whence he came, and by whom he was produced, is
[p. 284]
attentive only to this, how he may fill his place with due
regularity, and obediently to God. Dost thou still wish
me to exist (live)? I will continue to exist as free, as
noble in nature, as thou hast wished me to exist: for
thou hast made me free from hindrance in that which is
my own. But hast thou no further need of me? I thank
thee; and so far I have remained for thy sake, and for the
sake of no other person, and now in obedience to thee I
depart. How dost thou depart? Again, I say, as thou
hast pleased, as free, as thy servant, as one who has known
thy commands and thy prohibitions. And so long as I
shall stay in thy service, whom dost thou will me to be?
A prince or a private man, a senator or a common person,
a soldier or a general, a teacher or a master of a family?
whatever place and position thou mayest assign to me, as
Socrates says, I will die ten thousand times rather than
desert them. And where dost thou will me to be? in
Rome or Athens, or Thebes or Gyara. Only remember me
there where I am. If thou sendest me to a place where
there are no means for men living according to nature, I
shall not depart (from life) in disobedience to thee, but as
if thou wast giving me the signal to retreat: I do not
leave thee, let this be far from my intention, but I perceive that thou hast no need of me. If means of living
according to nature be allowed to me, I will seek no other
place than that in which I am, or other men than those
among whom I am.
Let these thoughts be ready to hand by night and by
day: these you should write, these you should read: about
these you should talk to yourself, and to others. Ask a
man, Can you help me at all for this purpose? and further,
go to another and to another. Then if any thing that is
[p. 285]
said be contrary to your wish, this reflection first will im-
mediately relieve you, that it is not unexpected. For it is
a great thing in all cases to say, I knew that I begot a
son who is mortal.592 For so you also will say, I knew that
I am mortal, I knew that I may leave my home, I knew
that I may be ejected from it, I knew that I may be led to
prison. Then if you turn round and look to yourself, and
seek the place from which comes that which has happened,
you will forthwith recollect that it comes from the place
of things which are out of the power of the will, and of
things which are not my own. What then is it to me?
Then, you will ask, and this is the chief thing: And who
is it that sent it? The leader, or the general, the state,
the law of the state. Give it me then, for I must always
obey the law in every thing. Then, when the appearance
(of things) pains you, for it is not in your power to
prevent this, contend against it by the aid of reason,
conquer it: do not allow it to gain strength nor to lead
you to the consequences by raising images such as it
pleases and as it pleases. If you be in Gyara, do not
imagine the mode of living at Rome, and how many pleasures there were for him who lived there and how many
there would be for him who returned to Rome: but fix
your mind on this matter, how a man who lives in Gyara
ought to live in Gyara like a man of courage. And if you
be in Rome, do not imagine what the life in Athens is, but
think only of the life in Rome.
Then in the place of all other delights substitute this,
that of being conscious that you are obeying God, that not
in word, but in deed you are performing the acts of a wise
and good man. For what a thing it is for a man to be
able to say to himself, Now whatever the rest may say in
solemn manner in the schools and may be judged to be
saying in a way contrary to common opinion (or in a
strange way), this I am doing; and they are sitting and
are discoursing of my virtues and inquiring about me and
praising me; and of this Zeus has willed that I shall receive
from myself a demonstration, and shall myself know if he
has a soldier such as he ought to have, a citizen such as
[p. 286]
he ought to have, and if he has chosen to produce me to
the rest of mankind as a witness of the things which are
independent of the will: See that you fear without reason,
that you foolishly desire what you do desire: seek not the
good in things external; seek it in yourselves: if you do not,
you will not find it. For this purpose he leads me at one
time hither, at another time sends me thither, shows me
to men as poor, without authority, and sick; sends me to
Gyara, leads me into prison, not because he hates me, far
from him be such a meaning, for who hates the best of his
servants? nor yet because he cares not for me, for he does
not neglect any even of the smallest things;593 but he
does this for the purpose of exercising me and making use
of me as a witness to others. Being appointed to such a
service, do I still care about the place in which I am, or
with whom I am, or what men say about me? and do 1
not entirely direct my thoughts to God and to his instructions and commands?
Having these things (or thoughts) always in hand, and
exercising them by yourself, and keeping them in readiness,
you will never be in want of one to comfort you and
strengthen you. For it is not shameful to be without
something to eat, but not to have reason sufficient for
keeping away fear and sorrow. But if once you have
gained exemption from sorrow and fear, will there any
longer be a tyrant for you, or a tyrant's guard, or atten-
dants on Caesar?594 Or shall any appointment to offices at
court cause you pain, or shall those who sacrifice in the
Capitol on the occasion of being named to certain functions,
cause pain to you who have received so great authority
from Zeus?595 Only do not make a proud display of it,
nor boast of it; but shew it by your acts; and if no man
perceives it, be satisfied that you are yourself in a healthy
state and happy.
[p. 287]
