she is, there thou seekest her not!

LXXII

If a man would pursue Philosophy, his first task is to throw
away conceit. For it is impossible for a man to begin to learn
what he has a conceit that he already knows.

LXXIII

Give me but one young man, that has come to the School with
this intention, who stands forth a champion of this cause, and
says, "All else I renounce, content if I am but able to pass my
life free from hindrance and trouble; to raise my head aloft and
face all things as a free man; to look up to heaven as a friend
of God, fearing nothing that may come to pass!" Point out such a
one to me, that I may say, "Enter, young man, into possession of
that which is thine own. For thy lot is to adorn Philosophy.
Thine are these possessions; thine these books, these
discourses!"
And when our champion has duly exercised himself in this
part of the subject, I hope he will come back to me and say:--
"What I desire is to be free from passion and from perturbation;
as one who grudges no pains in the pursuit of piety and
philosophy, what I desire is to know my duty to the Gods, my duty
to my parents, to my brothers, to my country, to strangers."
"Enter then on the second part of the subject; it is thine
also."
"But I have already mastered the second part; only I wished
to stand firm and unshaken--as firm when asleep as when awake,
as firm when elated with wine as in despondency and dejection."
"Friend, you are verily a God! you cherish great designs."

LXXIV

"The question at stake," said Epictetus, "is no common one;
it is this:--Are we in our senses, or are we not?"

LXXV

If you have given way to anger, be sure that over and above
the evil involved therein, you have strengthened the habit, and
added fuel to the fire. If overcome by a temptation of the flesh,
do not reckon it a single defeat, but that you have also
strengthened your dissolute habits. Habits and faculties are
necessarily affected by the corresponding acts. Those that were
not there before, spring up: the rest gain in strength and
extent. This is the account which Philosophers give of the origin
of diseases of the mind:--Suppose you have once lusted after
money: if reason sufficient to produce a sense of evil be