Moral essays. With an English translation by J.W. Basore

-ON PROVIDENCE, n. 1-6maintains its poise, and it gives its o'vm colour toeverj'thing that happens ; for jt is mightier than allexternal things. And yet I do not mean to say thatthe brave man is insensible to these, but that heovercomes them, and being in all else unmoved andcalm rises to meet whatever assails Tiim. All hisadversities he counts mere training. WTio, moreover,if he is a man and intent upon the right, is not eagerfor reasonable toil and ready for duties accompaniedby danger ? To what energetic man is not idlenessa pimishment ? Wrestlers, who make strength ofbody their chief concern, we see pitting themselvesagainst none but the strongest, and they require ofthose who are preparing them for the arena that theyuse against them all their strength ; they submit toblows and hurts, and if they do not find their matchin single opponents, they engage -with several at atime. Without an adversary, prowess shrivels . Wesee how great and how efficient it really is, onlywhen it shows by endurance what it is capable of.Be assured that good men ought to act hkewise ; theyshould not shrink from hardships and difficulties, norcomplain against fate ; they should take in good partwhatever h^^ppP^gj ^"^ C>ir>n1^ tui-r. if tr^ g^r>^ ]SJotwhat you endure^ but how you endure, is important.Do you not see how fathers show their love in oneway, and mothers in another ? The father ordershis children to be aroused from sleep in order thatthey may start early upon their pursuits,—even onholidays he does not permit them to be idle, and hedraws from them sweat and sometimes tears. Butthe mother fondles them in her lap, wishes to keepthem out of the sun, wishes them never to be un-^^PPy> never to cry, never to toil. Toward good 9