with being alone? Let him be in a Desart *. Discontented with his Parents? Let him be a bad Son; and let him mourn. Discontented with his Children? Let him be a bad Father. Throw him into Prison. What Prison ? Where he already is: for he is in a Situation against his Will: and wherever any one is against his Will, that is to him a Prison: just as Socrates was not in Prison; for he was willingly there. "What then inust my Leg be lame?"-And is it for one paltry Leg, Wretch, that you accuse the World? Why will you not give it up to the Whole? Why will you not withdraw yourself from it? Why will you not gladly yield it to him who gave it? And will you be angry and discontented with the Decrees of Jupiter; which he, with the Fates, who spun in his presence the Thread of your Birth, ordained and appointed? Do not know how very smali a Part you are of the Whole? That is, as to Body: for, as to Reason, you are neither worse, nor less, than the gods. For Reason is not measured by Length or Height; but by Principles. Will you not therefore you See Introduction, 20. place ? place your Good there, where you are equal to the gods* How wretched am I in such a Father and Mother!"-What, then, was it granted you to come before-hand, and make your own Terms, and say; "Let such and such Persons, at this Hour, be the Authors of my Birth?" It was not granted: for it was necessary that your Parents should exist before you, and so you be born afterwards. Of whom?-Of just such as they were. What, then, since they are such, is there no Remedy afforded you Now, surely, you would be wretched and miserable, if you were ignorant to what purpose you possess the faculty of Sight, and shut your eyes at the approach of Colours: and are not you more wretched and miserable, in being ignorant, that you have a Greatness of Soul, and a manly spirit, answerable to each of the abovementioned accidents Occurrences proportioned to your Faculty of discernment) are brought before you: but you turn it away, at the very time when you ought to have it the most open, and quick-sighted. Why do not you rather thank the gods, that they have made you * One of the Stoic Extravagancies; arising from the Notion, that human Souls were literally Parts of the Deity. superior to whatever they have not placed in your own Power; and have rendered you accountable for that only, which is in your own Power? Of your Parents they acquit you; as not accountable: of your Brothers they acquit you; of Body, Possessions, Death, Life, they acquit you. For what, then, have they made you accountable? For that which is alone in your own Power: a right use of the Appearances of Objects. Why, then, should you draw those things upon yourself, for which you are not accountable? This is giving one's self Trouble, without need. CHAP. XIII. How every Thing may be performed acceptably to the gods. §. 1. WHEN a Person inquired, How any one might eat acceptably to the gods: if he. eats with Justice, says Epictetus, and Gratitude; and fairly, and temperately, and decently, must he not also eat acceptably to the gods? And when you call for hot water, and your Servant doth not hear you; or, if he doth, brings it only warm; or perhaps is not to be found at home; then, not to be angry, or burst with passion: is not this acceptable to the gods? But how, then, can one bear such things? Wretch, will you not bear with your own Brother who hath God for his Father, as being a Son from the same Stock, and of the same high Descent (with yourself)? But, if you chance to be placed in some superior station, will you presently set yourself up for a Tyrant? Will you not remember what you are, and over whom you bear rule? That they are by Nature your Relations, your Brothers; that they are the Offspring of God * But I have them by Right of Purchase, and not they me. Do you see what it is you regard? That it is Earth and Mire, and these wretched Laws of dead † Men; and that you do not regard those of the gods. "If I did despise the Cause of my Man Servant, or my Maid Servant, when they contended with me; what then shall I do when God riseth up? And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Did not he who made me in the Womb, make him? And did not One fashion us in the Womb." Job xxxi ̧ 13, 14, 15. ti. c. Deceased Legislators, who had in View low and worldly Considerations. CHAP. CHAP. XIV. That all Things are under the divine Inspection. WHEN a Person asked him, How §. 1. any one might be convinced, that each of his Actions are under the Inspection of God? Do not you think, says Epictetus, that all things are mutually connected and united I do. ted Well and do not you think, that things on Earth feel the Influence of the heavenly bodies Yes. Else how could the Trees so regularly, as if by God's express Command, bud, * blossom, bring forth fruit, and ripen it then let it drop, and shed their leaves, and lie contracted within themselves in Quiet and Repose; all when He speaks the Word? Whence, again, are there seen, on the In * There is a Beauty in the Original, arising from the different Terminations in the Verbs, which cannot be preserved in our Language. crease |