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

ON FIRMNESS, x. 1^injury, something to be complained of rather thanavenged, something which even the laws have notdeemed worthy of punishment. This feehng isstirred by a sense of humihation as the spirit shrinksbefore an uncomplimentary word or act. " So-andsodid not give me an audience to-day, though he gaveit to others " "; he haughtily repulsed or openlylaughed at my conversation " ; "he did not giveme the seat of honour, but placed me at the foot ofthe table," These and similar reproaches—whatshall I call them but the complainings of a squeamishtemper ? And it is generally the pampered andprosperous who indulge in them ; for if a man ispressed by worse ills, he has not time to notice suchthings. By reason of too much leisure natures whichare naturally weak and effeminate and, from thedearth of real injur}-, have gro^vn spoiled, are disturbedby these sUghts, the greater number of whichare due to some fault in the one who so interpretsthem. Therefore any man who is troubled by aninsult shows himself lacking in both insight andbehef in himself ; for he decides without hesitationthat he has been sHghted, and the accompamongsting is the ine\-itable result of a certain abjectnessof spirit, a spirit which depreciates itself and bowsdown to another. But no one can shght the wiseman, for he knows his o^vn greatness and assures himselfthat no one is accorded so much power over him,and all these feelings, which I prefer to call ratherannoyances than distresses of the mind, he does nothave to overcome—nay, he does not even have them.Quite different are the things that do buffet thewise man, even though they do not overthrow him,such as bodily pain and infirmity, or the loss of friends79