Volume 1 - Discourses - Books I - II - College of Stoic Philosophers

BOOK II, xvii. 30-36destiny to adorn philosophy, yours are these possessions,yours these books, yours these discourses.Then, when he has worked his way through thisfirst field of study and mastered it like an athlete,let him come to me again and say,fc I want, it istrue, to be tranquil and free from turmoil, but Iwant also, as a god-fearing man, a philosopher anda diligent student, to know what is my duty towardsthe gods, towards parents, towards brothers, towardsmy country, towards strangers." Advance now to" Yes,the second field of study this also is ;yours.but I have already studied this second field. WhatI wanted was to be secure and unshaken, and thatnot merely in my waking hours, but also whenasleep, and 1drunk, and melancholy-mad." Man,you are a god, great are the designs you cherish !No, that is not the way it goes, but someone says,ec 1 wish to know what Chrysippus means in histreatise on The Liar." 2 If that is your design, gohang, you wretch ! And what good will knowingthat do you? With sorrow youwill read the wholetreatise, and with trembling you will talk aboutit to others. This is the way you also, my hearers,behave. You " say: Shall I read aloud to you,brother, and you to me?" 3 "Man, you writewonderfully." And again, "You have a great giftfor writing in the style of Xenophon," " You forthat of " Plato," You for that of Aiitisthenes." Andthen, when you have told dreams to one another,you go back to the same things again; you have280 ff.VonArnim, tiloicnrum r l elerum Fragments, II. 92, frag.GhryaippiiK is Haul to have written six books on the subject,Diog. Laer. VII. 11)0. Cf. Pease on Cio. Ik JDto. II. 11.3That is, each bis own compositions, in expectation ofmutual compliments. Of. Hor. E$, II. 2, 87 It347