Ch. 3
What things are to be exchanged for others.
When you have lost anything external, have
always at hand the consideration of what you
have got instead of it; and if this be of more value,
do not by any means call yourself a loser, - whether it
be a horse for an ass; an ox for a sheep; a good action for a piece of money; a due composure of mind
for a dull jest; or modesty for indecent talk. By continually remembering this, you will preserve your
character such as it ought to be. Otherwise, consider
that you are spending your time in vain; and all that
to which you are now applying your mind, you are
about to spill and overturn. And there needs but
little, merely a small deviation from reason, to destroy
and overset all. A pilot does not need so much apparatus to overturn a ship as to save it; but if he exposes it a little too much to the wind, it is lost; even
if he should not do it by design, but only for a moment be thinking of something else, it is lost. Such
is the case here too. If you do but nod a little, all
that you have hitherto accomplished is gone. Take
heed, then, to the appearances of things. Keep yourself watchful over them. It is no inconsiderable
matter that you have to guard; but modesty, fidelity,
constancy, docility, innocence, fearlessness, serenity,
-in short, freedom. For what will you sell these?
Consider what the purchase is worth. " But shall I
not get such a thing instead of it? " Consider, if you
do not get it, what it is that you have instead. Suppose I have decency, and another the office of tribune;
I have modesty, and he the praetorship? But I do not
applaud where it is unbecoming; I will pay no undeserved honor; for I am free, and the friend of God,
so as to obey him willingly; and I must not value
anything else, neither body, nor possessions, nor fame,
- in short, nothing. For it is not his will that I should
value them. If this had been his pleasure, he would
have placed in them my good, which now he has not
done; therefore I cannot transgress his commands.
Seek in all things your own highest good; and for
other aims, recognize them so far as the case requires,
and in accordance with reason, contented with this
alone. Otherwise you will be unfortunate, disappointed, restrained, hindered. These are the established laws, these the statutes. Of these one ought to
be an expositor, and to these obedient, rather than to
those of Masurius and Cassius.73
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