Part 7 (2/2)
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 pa.s.s 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 G.o.d, fearing nothing that may come to pa.s.s!” 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 pa.s.sion 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 G.o.ds, 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 G.o.d! 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 l.u.s.ted after money: if reason sufficient to produce a sense of evil be applied, then the l.u.s.t is checked, and the mind at once regains its original authority; whereas if you have recourse to no remedy, you can no longer look for this return--on the contrary, the next time it is excited by the corresponding object, the flame of desire leaps up more quickly than before. By frequent repet.i.tion, the mind in the long run becomes callous; and thus this mental disease produces confirmed Avarice.
One who has had fever, even when it has left him, is not in the same condition of health as before, unless indeed his cure is complete.
Something of the same sort is true also of diseases of the mind. Behind, there remains a legacy of traces and blisters: and unless these are effectually erased, subsequent blows on the same spot will produce no longer mere blisters, but sores. If you do not wish to be p.r.o.ne to anger, do not feed the habit; give it nothing which may tend its increase. At first, keep quiet and count the days when you were not angry: ”I used to be angry every day, then every other day: next every two, next every three days!” and if you succeed in pa.s.sing thirty days, sacrifice to the G.o.ds in thanksgiving.
LXXVI
How then may this be attained?--Resolve, now if never before, to approve thyself to thyself; resolve to show thyself fair in G.o.d's sight; long to be pure with thine own pure self and G.o.d!
LXXVII
That is the true athlete, that trains himself to resist such outward impressions as these.
”Stay, wretched man! suffer not thyself to be carried away!” Great is the combat, divine the task! you are fighting for Kings.h.i.+p, for Liberty, for Happiness, for Tranquillity. Remember G.o.d: call upon Him to aid thee, like a comrade that stands beside thee in the fight.
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