9781945186240

45. Whatever happens to you is for the good of the world. That would
be enough right there. But if you look closely you’ll generally notice
something else as well: whatever happens to a single person is for the good
of others. (Good in the ordinary sense—as the world defines it.)
46. Just as the arena and the other spectacles weary you—you’ve seen
them all before—and the repetition grates on your nerves, so too with life.
The same things, the same causes, on all sides.
How much longer?
47. Keep this constantly in mind: that all sorts of people have died—all
professions, all nationalities. Follow the thought all the way down to
Philistion, Phoebus, and Origanion. Now extend it to other species.
We have to go there too, where all of them have already gone:
. . . the eloquent and the wise—Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Socrates . . .
. . . the heroes of old, the soldiers and kings who followed them . . .
. . . Eudoxus, Hipparchus, Archimedes . . .
. . . the smart, the generous, the hardworking, the cunning, the selfish . .
.
. . . and even Menippus and his cohorts, who laughed at thewhole brief,
fragile business.
All underground for a long time now.
And what harm does it do them? Or the others either—the ones whose
names we don’t even know?
The only thing that isn’t worthless: to live this life out truthfully and
rightly. And be patient with those who don’t.
48. When you need encouragement, think of the qualities the people
around you have: this one’s energy, that one’s modesty, another’s
generosity, and so on. Nothing is as encouraging as when virtues are visibly
embodied in the people around us, when we’re practically showered with
them.
It’s good to keep this in mind.
49. It doesn’t bother you that you weigh only x or y pounds and not
three hundred. Why should it bother you that you have only x or y years to