head." Do not say, "Alas!" "I have pain in the ear." Do not say,
"Alas!" And I do not say that you are not allowed to groan, but do not
groan inwardly; and if your slave is slow in bringing a bandage, do
not cry out and torment yourself, and say, "Everybody hates me": for
who would not hate such a man? For the future, relying on these
opinions, walk about upright, free; not trusting to the size of your
body, as an athlete, for a man ought not to be invincible in the way
that an ass is.
Who then is the invincible? It is he whom none of the things disturb
which are independent of the will. Then examining one circumstance
after another I observe, as in the case of an athlete; he has come off
victorious in the first contest: well then, as to the second? and what
if there should be great heat? and what, if it should be at Olympia?
And the same I say in this case: if you should throw money in his way,
he will despise it. Well, suppose you put a young girl in his way,
what then? and what, if it is in the dark? what if it should be a
little reputation, or abuse; and what, if it should be praise; and
what if it should be death? He is able to overcome all. What then if
it be in heat, and what if it is in the rain, and what if he be in a
melancholy mood, and what if he be asleep? He will still conquer. This
is my invincible athlete.

CHAPTER 19

How we should behave to tyrants

If a man possesses any superiority, or thinks that he does, when
he does not, such a man, if he is uninstructed, will of necessity be
puffed up through it. For instance, the tyrant says, "I am master of
all." And what can you do for me? Can you give me desire which shall
have no hindrance? How can you? Have you the infallible power of
avoiding what you would avoid? Have you the power of moving toward
an object without error? And how do you possess this power? Come, when
you are in a ship, do you trust to yourself or to the helmsman? And
when you are in a chariot, to whom do you trust but to the driver? And
how is it in all other arts? Just the same. In what then lies your
power? "All men pay respect to me." Well, I also pay respect to my
platter, and I wash it and wipe it; and for the sake of my oil
flask, I drive a peg into the wall. Well then, are these things
superior to me? No, but they supply some of my wants, and for this
reason I take care of them. Well, do I not attend to my ass? Do I
not wash his feet? Do I not clean him? Do you not know that every
man has regard to himself, and to you just the same as he has regard
to his ass? For who has regard to you as a man? Show me. Who wishes to
become like you? Who imitates you, as he imitates Socrates? "But I can
cut off your head." You say right. I had forgotten that I must have
regard to you, as I would to a fever and the bile, and raise an
altar to you, as there is at Rome an altar to fever.
What is it then that disturbs and terrifies the multitude? is it the
tyrant and his guards? I hope that it is not so. It is not possible