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

ON PROVIDENCE, iv. 4-6warfare. I once heard Triumphus, a gladiator inthe time of Tiberius Caesar, complaining of thescarcity of shows ": How fair an age," he said," "has passed away !True worth is eager for danger and thinks ratherof its goal than of what it may have to suffer, sinceeven what it will have to suffer is a part of itsglory. Warriors glory in their wounds and rejoice todisplay the blood spilled with luckier fortune. Thosewho return from the battle unhurt may have foughtas well, but the man who returns with a wound winsthe greater regard. God, I say, is shomng favourto those whom he wills shall achieve the highestpossible virtue whenever he gives them the meansof doing a courageoiis and brave deed, and to thisend they must encounter some difficulty in life.You learn to know a pilot in a storm, a soldier inthe battle-hne. How can I know with what spirityou will face poverty, if you wallow in wealth ?How can I know Avith what firmness you ^vill facedisgrace, ill fame, and pubhc hatred, if you attain toold age amidst rounds of applause,—if a popularityattends you that is irresistible, and flows to youfrom a certain leaning of men's minds ? How do Iknow with what equanimity you would bear the lossof childi'en, if you see around you all that you havefathered ? I have heard you offering consolation toothers. If you had been offering it to yourself, ifyou had been telhng yourself not to grieve, then Imight have seen your true character. Do not, Ibeg of you, shrink in fear from those things whichthe immortal gods apply hke spurs, as it were, toour souls. Disaster is Virtue's opportunity. Justlymay those be termed unhappy who are dulled by27