the common saying, A fool you can neither bend nor break. Pray
heaven I may never have a wise fool for my friend! There is
nothing more intractable.--"My resolve is fixed!"--Why so madman
say too; but the more firmly they believe in their delusions, the
more they stand in need of treatment.

LXX

--"O! when shall I see Athens and its Acropolis again?"--
Miserable man! art thou not contented with the daily sights that
meet thine eyes? canst thou behold aught greater or nobler than
the Sun, Moon, and Stars; than the outspread Earth and Sea? If
indeed thous apprehendest Him who administers the universe, if
thou bearest Him about within thee, canst thou still hanker after
mere fragments of stone and fine rock? When thou art about to bid
farewell to the Sun and Moon itself, wilt thou sit down and cry
like a child? Why, what didst thou hear, what didst thou learn?
why didst thou write thyself down a philosopher, when thou
mightest have written what was the fact, namely, "I have made one
or two Conpendiums, I have read some works of Chrysippus, and I
have not even touched the hem of Philosophy's robe"!

LXXI

Friend, lay hold with a desperate grasp, ere it is too late,
on Freedom, on Tranquility, on Greatness of soul! Lift up thy
head, as one escaped from slavery; dare to look up to God, and
say:--"Deal with me henceforth as Thou wilt; Thou and I are of
one mind. I am Thine: I refuse nothing that seeeth good to Thee;
lead on whither Thou wilt; clothe me in what garb Thou pleasest;
wilt Thou have me a ruler or a subject--at home or in exile--
poor or rich? All these things will I justify unto men for Thee.
I will show the true nature of each. . . ."
Who would Hercules have been had he loitered at home? no
Hercules, but Eurystheus. And in his wanderings through the world
how many friends and comrades did he find? but nothing dearer to
him than God. Wherefore he was believed to be God's son, as
indeed he was. So then in obedience to Him, he went about
delivering the earth from injustice and lawlessness.
But thou art not Hercules, thou sayest, and canst not
deliver others from their iniquity--not even Theseus, to deliver
the soil of Attica from its monsters? Purge away thine own, cast
forth thence--from thine own mind, not robbers and monsters, but
Fear, Desire, Envy, Malignity, Avarice, Effeminacy, Intemperance.
And these may not be cast out, except by looking to God alone, by
fixing thy affections on Him only, and by consecrating thyself to
His commands. If thou choosest aught else, with sighs and groans
thou wilt be forced to follow a Might greater than thine own,
ever seeking Tranquillity without, and never able to attain unto
her. For thou seekest her where she is not to be found; and where