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

ON FIRMNESS, viii. 1-3man, on the other, can bestow nothing good enoughfor the wise man to have. For a man must havebefore he can give ; the e\-il man, however, hasnothing that the wise man would be glad to havetransferred to himself. It is impossible, therefore,for any one either to injure or to benefit the wise man,since that which is divine does not need to be helped,and cannot be hurt ; and the wise man is next-doorneighbour to the gods and like a god in all save hismortality. As he struggles and presses on towardsthose things that are lofty, well-ordered, undaunted,that flow on with even and harmonious current, thatare untroubled, kindly, adapted to the public good,beneficial both to himself and to others, the wiseman will covet notliing low, will never repine. Theman who, relying on reason, marches through mortalvicissitudes with the spirit of a god, has no vulnerablespot where he can receive an injury. From manonly do you think I mean ? No, not even from Fortune,who, whenever she has encountered virtue, hasalways left the field outmatched. If that supremeevent, beyond which outraged laws and the mostcruel masters have nothing with which to threaten us,and in which Fortune uses up all her power, is metwith calm and unruffled mind, and if it is realizedthat death is not an evil and therefore not an injuryeither, we shall much more easily bear all otherthings—losses and pains, disgrace, changes of abode,bereavements, and separations. These things cannotoverwhelm the wise man, even though they allencompass him at once ; still less does he grievewhen they assault him singly. And if he bearscomposedly the injuries of Fortune, how much73