is already awake, he is now going forth': then come troubles and
cares." Well, when did you sup with more pleasure, now or before? Hear
what he says about this also. He says that if he is not invited, he is
pained: and if he is invited, he sups like a slave with his master,
all the while being anxious that he does not say or do anything
foolish. And what do you suppose that he is afraid of; lest he
should be lashed like a slave? How can he expect anything so good? No,
but as befits so great a man, Caesar's friend, he is afraid that he
may lose his head. And when did you bathe more free from trouble,
and take your gymnastic exercise more quietly? In fine, which kind
of life did you prefer? your present or your former life? I can
swear that no man is so stupid or so ignorant of truth as not to
bewail his own misfortunes the nearer he is in friendship to Caesar.
Since, then, neither those who are called kings live as they choose,
nor the friends of kings, who finally are those who are free? Seek,
and you will find; for you have aids from nature for the discovery
of truth. But if you are not able yourself by going along these ways
only to discover that which follows, listen to those who have made the
inquiry. What do they say? Does freedom seem to you a good thing? "The
greatest good." Is it possible, then, that he who obtains the greatest
good can be unhappy or fare badly? "No." Whomsoever, then, you shall
see unhappy, unfortunate, lamenting, confidently declare that they are
not free. "I do declare it." We have now, then, got away from buying
and selling and from such arrangements about matters of property;
for if you have rightly assented to these matters, if the Great King
is unhappy, he cannot be free, nor can a little king, nor a man of
consular rank, nor one who has been twice consul. "Be it so."
Further, then, answer me this question also: Does freedom seem to
you to be something great and noble and valuable? "How should it not
seem so?" Is it possible, then, when a man obtains anything, so
great and valuable and noble to be mean? "It is not possible." When,
then, you see any man subject to another, or flattering him contrary
to his own opinion, confidently affirm that this man also is not free;
and not only if he do this for a bit of supper, but also if he does it
for a government or a consulship: and call these men "little slaves"
who for the sake of little matters do these things, and those who do
so for the sake of great things call "great slaves," as they deserve
to be. "This is admitted also." Do you think that freedom is a thing
independent and self-governing? "Certainly." Whomsoever, then, it is
in the power of another to hinder and compel, declare that he is not
free. And do not look, I entreat you, after his grandfathers and
great-grandfathers, or inquire about his being bought or sold; but
if you hear him saying from his heart and with feeling, "Master," even
if the twelve fasces precede him, call him a slave. And if you hear
him say, "Wretch that I am, how much I suffer," call him a slave.
If, finally, you see him lamenting, complaining, unhappy, call him a
slave though he wears a praetexta. If, then, he is doing nothing of
this kind, do not yet say that he is free, but learn his opinions,
whether they are subject to compulsion, or may produce hindrance, or
to bad fortune; and if you find him such, call him a slave who has a