That the man who has achieved perfect Life possesses happiness is
proved by his no longer desiring anything. What more could he desire?
He could not desire anything inferior; he is united to the best; he,
therefore, has fulness of life. If he be virtuous he is fully happy,
and fully possesses the Good, for no good thing escapes him. What he
seeks is sought only by necessity, less for him than for some of the
things which belong to him. He seeks it for the body that is united to
him; and though this body be endowed with life, what relates to his
needs is not characteristic of the real man. The latter knows it, and
what he grants to his body, he grants without in any way departing
from his own characteristic life. His happiness will, therefore, not
be diminished in adversity, because he continues to possess veritable
life. If he lose relatives or friends, he knows the nature of death,
and besides those whom it strikes down know it also if they were
virtuous. Though he may allow himself to be afflicted by the fate of
these relatives or friends, the affliction will not reach the intimate
part of his nature; the affliction will be felt only by that part of
the soul which lacks reason, and whose suffering the man will not share.
MEN MUST SEEK THEIR HAPPINESS IN THAT OF EACH OF THE PARTS OF THEIR
NATURE.
5. It has often been objected that we should reckon with the bodily
pains, the diseases, the obstacles which may hinder action, cases of
unconsciousness, which might result from certain philtres and diseases
(as the Peripatetics objected[4]). Under these conditions, they say,
the sage could not live well, and be happy--without either mentioning
poverty and lack of recognition. All these evils, not forgetting the
famous misfortunes of Priam,[5] justify serious objections. Indeed,
even if the sage endured all these evils (as indeed he easily does),
they would none the less be contrary to his will; and happy life must
necessarily be one that conforms to our will. The sage is not only
a soul endowed with particular dispositions; the body also must be
comprised within his personality (as also thought the Pythagorean
Archytas[6]). This assertion seems reasonable so far as the passions
of the body are felt by the man himself, and as they suggest desires
and aversions to him. If then pleasure be an element of happiness, how
could the man afflicted by the blows of fate and by pains still be
happy, even if he were virtuous? To be happy, the divinities need only
to enjoy perfect life; but men, having their soul united to a lower
part, must seek their happiness in the life of each of these two parts
that compose him, and not exclusively in one of the two, even though
it were the higher. Indeed, as soon as one of them suffers, the other
one, in spite of its superiority, finds its actions hindered. Otherwise
we shall have to regard neither the body, nor the sensations that flow
from it; and to seek only what by itself could suffice to procure
happiness, independently of the body.