Letter 36
Encourage your friend to despise stout-heartedly
those who upbraid him because he has sought the shade of retirement and
has abdicated his career of honours, and, though he might have attained
more, has preferred tranquillit.y to them all. Let him prove daily
to these detractors how wisely he has looked out for his own interests.
Those whom men envy will continue to march past him; some will be pushed
out of the ranks, and others will fall. Prosperity is a turbulent
thing; it torments itself. it stirs the brain in more ways than one, goading
men on to various aims, some to power, and others to high living.
Some it puffs up; others it slackens and wholly enervates.
"But," the retort comes, "so-and-so carries
his prosperity well." Yes; just as he carries his liquor. So you
need not let this class of men persuade you that one who is besieged by
the crowd is happy; they run to him as crowds rush for a pool of water,
rendering it muddy while they drain it. But you say: "Men call our
friend a trifler and a sluggard." There are men, you know, whose speech
is awry, who use the contrary terms. They called him happy; what
of it? Was he happy? Even the fact that to certain persons he seems
a man of a very rough and gloomy cast of mind, does not trouble me.
Aristo used to say that he preferred a youth of stern disposition to
one who was a jolly fellow and agreeable to the crowd. "For," he added,
"wine which, when new, seemed harsh and sour, becomes good wine; but that
which tasted well at the vintage <Ep1-247>
cannot stand age." So let them call him stern and a foe to his own advancement,
it is just this sternness that will go well when it is aged, provided only
that he continues to cherish virtue and to absorb thoroughly the studies
which make for culture, - not those with which it is sufficient for a man
to sprinkle himself, but those in which the mind should be steeped.
Now is the time to learn. "What? Is there any time when a man should
not learn?" By no means; but just as it is creditable for every age to
study, so it is not creditable for every age to be instructed. An
old man learning his A B C is a disgraceful and absurd object; the young
man must store up, the old man must use. You will therefore be doing
a thing most helpful to yourself if you make this friend of yours as good
a man as possible; those kindnesses, they tell us, are to be both sought
for and bestowed, which benefit the giver no less than the receiver; and
they are unquestionably the best kind.
Finally, he has no longer any freedom in the
matter; he has pledged his word. And it is less disgraceful to compound
with a creditor than to compound with a promising future. To pay
his debt of money, the business man must have a prosperous voyage, the
farmer must have fruitful fields and kindly weather; but the debt which
your friend owes can be completely paid
by mere goodwill.
Fortune has no jurisdiction over
character .
Let him so regulate his character that in perfect peace he may bring to
perfection that spirit within him which feels neither loss nor gain, but
remains in the same attitude, no matter how things fall out. A spirit
like this, if it is heaped with worldly goods, rises superior to its wealth;
if, on the other hand, chance <Ep1-249>
has stripped him of a part of his wealth, or even all, it is not impaired.
If your friend had been born in Parthia, he would have begun, when a child,
to bend the bow; if in Germany, he would forthwith have been brandishing
his slender spear; if he had been born in the days of our forefathers,
he would have learned to ride a horse and smite his enemy hand to hand.
These are the occupations which the system of each race recommends to the
individual, - yes, prescribes for him. To what, then, shall this
friend of yours devote his attention? I say, let him learn that
which is helpful against all weapons, against every kind of foe, - contempt
of death; because no one doubts that death has in it something that inspires
terror, so that it shocks even our souls, which nature has so moulded that
they love their own existence; for otherwise there would be no need to
prepare ourselves, and to whet our courage, to face that towards which
we should move with a sort of voluntary instinct, precisely as all men
tend to preserve their existence. No man learns a thing in order
that, if necessity arises, he may lie down with composure upon a bed of
roses; but he steels his courage to this end, that he may not surrender
his plighled faith to torture, and that,
if need be, he may some day stay out his watch in the trenches, even though
wounded, without even leaning on his spear; because sleep is likely to
creep over men who support themselves by any prop whatsoever.
In death there is nothing harmful; for there
must exist something to which it is harmful. And yet, if you are possessed
by so great a craving for a longer life, reflect that none of the objects
which vanish from our gaze and are re-absorbed into the <Ep1-251>
Latin / Greek Original
[1] Amicum tuum hortare ut istos magno animo contemnat qui illum obiurgant quod umbram et otium petierit, quod dignitatem suam destituerit et, cum plus consequi posset, praetulerit quietem omnibus; quam utiliter suum negotium gesserit cotidie illis ostentet. Hi quibus invidetur non desinent transire: alii elidentur, alii cadent. Res est inquieta felicitas; ipsa se exagitat. Movet cerebrum non uno genere: alios in aliud irritat, hos in impotentiam, illos in luxuriam; hos inflat, illos mollit et totos resolvit. [2] 'At bene aliquis illam fert.' Sic, quomodo vinum. Itaque non est quod tibi isti persuadeant eum esse felicem qui a multis obsidetur: sic ad illum quemadmodum ad lacum concurritur, quem exhauriunt et turbant. 'Nugatorium et inertem vocant.' Scis quosdam perverse loqui et significare contraria. Felicem vocabant: quid ergo? erat? [3] Ne illud quidem curo, quod quibusdam nimis horridi animi videtur et tetrici. Ariston aiebat malle se adulescentem tristem quam hilarem et amabilem turbae; vinum enim bonum fieri quod recens durum et asperum visum est; non pati aetatem quod in dolio placuit. Sine eum tristem appellent et inimicum processibus suis: bene se dabit in vetustate ipsa tristitia, perseveret modo colere virtutem, perbibere liberalia studia, non illa quibus perfundi satis est, sed haec quibus tingendus est animus. [4] Hoc est discendi tempus. 'Quid ergo? aliquod est quo non sit discendum?' Minime; sed quemadmodum omnibus annis studere honestum est, ita non omnibus institui. Turpis et ridicula res est elementarius senex: iuveni parandum, seni utendum est. Facies ergo rem utilissimam tibi, si illum quam optimum feceris; haec aiunt beneficia esse expetenda tribuendaque, non dubie primae sortis, quae tam dare prodest quam accipere. [5] Denique nihil illi iam liberi est, spopondit; minus autem turpe est creditori quam spei bonae decoquere. Ad illud aes alienum solvendum opus est negotianti navigatione prospera, agrum colenti ubertate eius quam colit terrae, caeli favore: ille quod debet sola potest voluntate persolvi. [6] In mores fortuna ius non habet. Hos disponat ut quam tranquillissimus ille animus ad perfectum veniat, qui nec ablatum sibi quicquam sentit nec adiectum, sed in eodem habitu est quomodocumque res cedunt; cui sive aggeruntur vulgaria bona, supra res suas eminet, sive aliquid ex istis vel omnia casus excussit, minor non fit.
[7] Si in Parthia natus esset, arcum infans statim tenderet; si in Germania, protinus puer tenerum hastile vibraret; si avorum nostrorum temporibus fuisset, equitare et hostem comminus percutere didicisset. Haec singulis disciplina gentis suae suadet atque imperat. [8] Quid ergo huic meditandum est? quod adversus omnia tela, quod adversus omne hostium genus bene facit, mortem contemnere, quae quin habeat aliquid in se terribile, ut et animos nostros quos in amorem sui natura formavit offendat, nemo dubitat; nec enim opus esset in id comparari et acui in quod instinctu quodam voluntario iremus, sicut feruntur omnes ad conservationem sui. [9] Nemo discit ut si necesse fuerit aequo animo in rosa iaceat, sed in hoc duratur, ut tormentis non summittat fidem, ut si necesse fuerit stans etiam aliquando saucius pro vallo pervigilet et ne pilo quidem incumbat, quia solet obrepere interim somnus in aliquod adminiculum reclinatis. Mors nullum habet incommodum; esse enim debet aliquid cuius sit incommodum. [10] Quod si tanta cupiditas te longioris aevi tenet? cogita nihil eorum quae ab oculis abeunt et in rerum naturam, ex qua prodierunt ac mox processura sunt, reconduntur consumi: desinunt ista, non pereunt, et mors, quam pertimescimus ac recusamus, intermittit vitam, non eripit; veniet iterum qui nos in lucem reponat dies, quem multi recusarent nisi oblitos reduceret. [11] Sed postea diligentius docebo omnia quae videntur perire mutari. Aequo animo debet rediturus exire. Observa orbem rerum in se remeantium: videbis nihil in hoc mundo exstingui sed vicibus descendere ac surgere. Aestas abit, sed alter illam annus adducet; hiemps cecidit, referent illam sui menses; solem nox obruit, sed ipsam statim dies abiget. Stellarum iste discursus quidquid praeterit repetit; pars caeli levatur assidue, pars mergitur.
[12] Denique finem faciam, si hoc unum adiecero, nec infantes [nec] pueros nec mente lapsos timere mortem et esse turpissimum si eam securitatem nobis ratio non praestat ad quam stultitia perducit. Vale.