not given, not to desire it; and when a thing is taken away, to give
it up readily and immediately, and to be thankful for the time that
a man has had the use of it, if you would not cry for your nurse and
mamma. For what matter does it make by what thing a man is subdued,
and on what he depends? In what respect are you better than he who
cries for a girl, if you grieve for a little gymnasium, and little
porticoes and young men and such places of amusement? Another comes
and laments that he shall no longer drink the water of Dirce. Is the
Marcian water worse than that of Dirce? "But I was used to the water
of Dirce?" And you in turn will be used to the other. Then if you
become attached to this also, cry for this too, and try to make a
verse like the verse of Euripides,

The hot baths of Nero and the Marcian water.

See how tragedy is made when common things happen to silly men.
"When then shall I see Athens again and the Acropolis?" Wretch,
are you not content with what you see daily? have you anything
better or greater to see than the sun, the moon, the stars, the
whole earth, the sea? But if indeed you comprehend him who administers
the Whole, and carry him about in yourself, do you still desire
small stones, and a beautiful rock? When, then, you are going to leave
the sun itself and the moon, what will you do? will you sit and weep
like children? Well, what have you been doing in the school? what
did you hear, what did you learn? why did you write yourself a
philosopher, when you might have written the truth; as, "I made
certain introductions, and I read Chrysippus, but I did not even
approach the door of a philosopher." For how should I possess anything
of the kind which Socrates possessed, who died as he did, who lived as
he did, or anything such as Diogenes possessed? Do you think that
any one of such men wept or grieved, because he was not going to see a
certain man, or a certain woman, nor to be in Athens or in Corinth,
but, if it should so happen, in Susa or in Ecbatana? For if a man
can quit the banquet when he chooses, and no longer amuse himself,
does he still stay and complain, and does he not stay, as at any
amusement, only so long as he is pleased? Such a man, I suppose, would
endure perpetual exile or to be condemned to death. Will you not be
weaned now, like children, and take more solid food, and not cry after
mammas and nurses, which are the lamentations of old women? "But if
I go away, I shall cause them sorrow." You cause them sorrow? By no
means; but that will cause them sorrow which also causes you sorrow,
opinion. What have you to do then? Take away your own opinion, and
if these women are wise, they will take away their own: if they do
not, they will lament through their own fault.
My man, as the proverb says, make a desperate effort on behalf of
tranquillity of mind, freedom and magnanimity. Lift up your head at
last as released from slavery. Dare to look up to God and say, "Deal
with me for the future as thou wilt; I am of the same mind as thou
art; I am thine: I refuse nothing that pleases thee: lead me where
thou wilt: clothe me in any dress thou choosest: is it thy will that I