dost Thou will me to be? A prince or a private man, a senator or a
common person, a soldier or a general, a teacher or a master of a
family? whatever place and position Thou mayest assign to me, as
Socrates says, "I will die ten thousand times rather than desert
them." And where dost Thou will me to be? in Rome or Athens, or Thebes
or Gyara. Only remember me there where I am. If Thou sendest me to a
place where there are no means for men living according to nature, I
shall not depart in disobedience to Thee, but as if Thou wast giving
me the signal to retreat: I do not leave Thee, let this be to from
my intention, but perceive that Thou hast no need of me. If means of
living according to nature be allowed me, I will seek no other place
than that in which I am, or other men than those among whom I am.
Let these thoughts be ready to hand by night and by day: these you
should write, these you should read: about these you should talk to
yourself, and to others. Ask a man, "Can you help me at all for this
purpose?" and further, go to another and to another. Then if
anything that is said he contrary to your wish, this reflection
first will immediately relieve you, that it is not unexpected. For
it is a great thing in all cases to say, "I knew that I begot a son
who is mortal." For so you also will say, "I knew that I am mortal,
I knew that I may leave my home, I knew that I may be ejected from it,
I knew that I may be led to prison." Then if you turn round, and
look to yourself, and seek the place from which comes that which has
happened, you will forthwith recollect that it comes from the place of
things which are out of the power of the will, and of things which are
not my own. "What then is it to me?" Then, you will ask, and this is
the chief thing: "And who is it that sent it?" The leader, or the
general, the state, the law of the state. Give it me then, for I
must always obey the law in everything. Then, when the appearance
pains you, for it is not in your power to prevent this, contend
against it by the aid of reason, conquer it: do not allow it to gain
strength nor to lead you to the consequences by raising images such as
it pleases and as it pleases. If you be in Gyara, do not imagine the
mode of living at Rome, and how many pleasures there were for him
who lived there and how many there would be for him who returned to
Rome: but fix your mind on this matter, how a man who lives in Gyara
ought to live in Gyara like a man of courage. And if you be in Rome,
do not imagine what the life in Athens is, but think only of the
life in Rome.
Then in the place of all other delights substitute this, that of
being conscious that you are obeying God, that, not in word but in
deed, you are performing the acts of a wise and good man. For what a
thing it is for a man to be able to say to himself, "Now, whatever the
rest may say in solemn manner in the schools and may be judged to be
saying in a way contrary to common opinion, this I am doing; and
they are sitting and are discoursing of my virtues and inquiring about
me and praising me; and of this Zeus has willed that I shall receive
from myself a demonstration, and shall myself know if He has a soldier
such as He ought to have, a citizen such as He ought to have, and if
He has chosen to produce me to the rest of mankind as a witness of the