Letter 107
W here is that common-sense of yours?
Where that deftness in examining things? That greatness of soul?
Have you come to be tormented by a trifle? Your slaves regarded your
absorption in business as an opportunity for them to run away. Well,
if your friends deceived you (for by all means let them have the name which
we mistakenly bestowed upon them, and so call them, that they may incur
more shame by not being such friends) - if your friends, I repeat, deceived
you, all your affairs would lack something; as it is, you merely lack men
who damaged your own endeavours and considered you burdensome to your neighbours.
None of these things is unusual or unexpected. It is as nonsensical
to be put out by such events as to complain of being spattered in the street
or at getting befouled in the mud. The programme of life is the same
as that of a bathing establishment, a crowd, or a journey: sometimes things
will be thrown at you, and sometimes they
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will strike you by accident. Life is not a dainty business.
You have started on a long journey you are bound to slip, collide, fall,
become weary, and cry out: "O for Death!" or in other words, tell lies.
At one stage you will leave a comrade behind you, at another you will bury
someone, at another you will be apprehensive. It is amid stumblings
of this sort that you must travel out this rugged journey. Does one
wish to die? Let the mind be prepared to meet everything; let it
know that it has reached the heights round which the thunder plays.
Let it know that it has arrived where -
Grief and avenging Care have set their couch,
And pallid sickness dwells, and drear Old Age.
With such messmates must you spend your days. Avoid them you cannot,
but despise them you can. And you will despise them, if you often
take thought: and anticipate the future. Everyone approaches courageously
a danger which he has prepared himself to meet long before, and withstands
even hardships if he has previously practised how to meet them. But,
contrariwise, the unprepared are panic-stricken even at the most trifling
things. We must see to it that nothing shall come upon us unforeseen.
And since things are all the more serious when they are unfamiliar, continual
reflection will give you the power, no matter what the evil may be, not
to play the unschooled boy. "My slaves have run away from me!" Yes, other
men have been robbed, blackmailed, slain, betrayed, stamped under foot,
attacked by poison or by slander; no matter what trouble you mention, it
has happened to many. Again, there are manifold
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kinds of missiles which are
hurled at us. Some are planted in us, some are being brandished and
at this very moment are on the way, some which were destined for other
men graze us instead. We should not manifest surprise at any sort
of condition into which we are born, and which should be lamented by no
one, simply because it is equally ordained for all. Yes, I say, equally
ordained; for a man might have experienced even that which he has escaped.
And an equal law consists, not of that which all have experienced, but
of that which is laid down for all. Be sure to prescribe for your
mind this sense of equity; we should pay without complaint the tax of our
mortality. Winter brings on
cold weather; and we must shiver. Summer returns, with its heat;
and we must sweat. Unseasonable weather upsets the health; and we
must fall ill. In certain places we may meet with wild beasts, or
with men who are more destructive than any beasts. Floods, or fires,
will cause us loss. And we cannot change this order of things; but
what we can do is to acquire stout hearts, worthy of good men, thereby
courageously enduring chance and placing ourselves in harmony with Nature.
And Nature moderates this world-kingdom which you see, by her changing
seasons: clear weather follows cloudy; after a calm, comes the storm; the
winds blow by turns; day succeeds night; some of the heavenly bodies rise,
and some set. Eternity consists of opposites. It is to this law that
our souls must adjust themselves, this they should follow, this they should
obey. Whatever happens, assume that it was bound to happen, and do
not be willing to rail at Nature. That which you cannot reform, it is best
to endure,
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Latin / Greek Original
[1] Ubi illa prudentia tua? ubi in dispiciendis rebus subtilitas? ubimagnitudo? Tam pusilla <te res> tangit? Servi occupationes tuas occasionemfugae putaverunt. Si amici deciperent (habeant enim sane nomen quod illisnoster error inposuit, et vocentur quo turpius non sint) * * * omnibusrebus tuis desunt illi qui et operam tuam conterebant et te aliis molestumesse credebant. [2] Nihil horum insolitum, nihil inexpectatum est; offendi rebus istis tam ridiculum est quam queri quod spargaris <in balneo autvexeris> in publico aut inquineris in luto. Eadem vitae condicio est quaebalnei, turbae, itineris: quaedam in te mittentur, quaedam incident. Nonest delicata res vivere. Longam viam ingressus es: et labaris oportet etarietes et cadas et lasseris et exclames 'o mors!', id est mentiaris. Alioloco comitem relinques, alio efferes, alio timebis: per eiusmodi offensasemetiendum est confragosum hoc iter. [3] Mori vult? praeparetur animuscontra omnia; sciat se venisse ubi tonat fulmen; sciat se venisse ubi
pallentesque habitant Morbi tristisque Senectus.
In hoc contubernio vita degenda est. Effugere ista non potes, comtemnerepotes; contemnes autem si saepe cogitaveris et futura praesumpseris. [4]Nemo non fortius ad id cui se diu composuerat accessit et duris quoque, si praemeditata erant, obstitit: at contra inparatus etiam levissima expavit. Id agendum est ne quid nobis inopinatum sit; et quia omnia novitate graviorasunt, hoc cogitatio adsidua praestabit, ut nulli sis malo tiro.
[5] 'Servi me reliquerunt. ' Alium compilaverunt, alium accusaverunt, alium occiderunt, alium prodiderunt, alium mulcaverunt, alium veneno, aliumcriminatione petierunt: quidquid dixeris multis accidit * * * deincepsquae multa et varia sunt in nos deriguntur. Quaedam in nos fixa sunt, quaedamvibrant et cum maxime veniunt, quaedam in alios perventura nos stringunt. [6] Nihil miremur eorum ad quae nati sumus, quae ideo nulli querenda quiaparia sunt omnibus. Ita dico, paria sunt; nam etiam quod effugit aliquispati potuit. Aequum autem ius est non quo omnes usi sunt sed quod omnibuslatum est. Imperetur aequitas animo et sine querella mortalitatis tributapendamus. [7] Hiems frigora adducit: algendum est. Aestas calores refert:aestuandum est. Intemperies caeli valetudinem temptat: aegrotandum est. Et fera nobis aliquo loco occurret et homo perniciosior feris omnibus. Aliud aqua, aliud ignis eripiet. Hanc rerum condicionem mutare non possumus:illud possumus, magnum sumere animum et viro bono dignum, quo fortiterfortuita patiamur et naturae consentiamus. [8] Natura autem hoc quod videsregnum mutationibus temperat: nubilo serena succedunt; turbantur mariacum quieverunt; flant in vicem venti; noctem dies sequitur; pars caeliconsurgit, pars mergitur: contrariis rerum aeternitas constat. [9] Ad hanclegem animus noster aptandus est; hanc sequatur, huic pareat; et quaecumquefiunt debuisse fieri putet nec velit obiurgare naturam. Optimum est patiquod emendare non possis, et deum quo auctore cuncta proveniunt sine murmurationecomitari: malus miles est qui imperatorem gemens sequitur. [10] Quare inpigriatque alacres excipiamus imperia nec deseramus hunc operis pulcherrimicursum, cui quidquid patiemur intextum est; et sic adloquamur Iovem, cuiusgubernaculo moles ista derigitur, quemadmodum Cleanthes noster versibusdisertissimis adloquitur, quos mihi in nostrum sermonem mutare permittiturCiceronis, disertissimi viri, exemplo. Si placuerint, boni consules; sidisplicuerint, scies me in hoc secutum Ciceronis exemplum.
[11]
[12] Sic vivamus, sic loquamur; paratos nos inveniat atque inpigros fatum. Hic est magnus animus qui se ei tradidit: at contra ille pusillus et degenerqui obluctatur et de ordine mundi male existimat et emendare mavult deosquam se. Vale.