9781945186240

say or do it, then it’s the right thing for you to do or say.
The others obey their own lead, follow their own impulses. Don’t be
distracted. Keep walking. Follow your own nature, and follow Nature—
along the road they share.
4. I walk through what is natural, until the time comes to sink down and
rest. To entrust my last breath to the source of my daily breathing, fall on
the source of my father’s seed, of my mother’s blood, of my nurse’s milk.
Of my daily food and drink through all these years. What sustains my
footsteps, and the use I make of it—the many uses.
5. No one could ever accuse you of being quick-witted.
All right, but there are plenty of other things you can’t claim you
“haven’t got in you.” Practice the virtues you can show: honesty, gravity,
endurance, austerity, resignation, abstinence, patience, sincerity,
moderation, seriousness, high-mindedness. Don’t you see how much you
have to offer—beyond excuses like “can’t”? And yet you still settle for less.
Or is it some inborn condition that makes you whiny and grasping and
obsequious, makes you complain about your body and curry favor and
show off and leaves you so turbulent inside?
No. You could have broken free a long way back. And then you would
have been only a little slow. “Not so quick on the uptake.”
And you need to work on that as well—that slowness. Not something to
be ignored, let alone to prize.
6. Some people, when they do someone a favor, are always looking for
a chance to call it in. And some aren’t, but they’re still aware of it—still
regard it as a debt. But others don’t even do that. They’re like a vine that
produces grapes without looking for anything in return.
A horse at the end of the race . . .
A dog when the hunt is over . . .
A bee with its honey stored . . .
And a human being after helping others.
They don’t make a fuss about it. They just go on to something else, as
the vine looks forward to bearing fruit again in season.
We should be like that. Acting almost unconsciously.