16. If the virtuous man were not located in this elevated life of
intelligence; if on the contrary he were supposed to be subject to
the blows of fate, and if we feared that they would overtake him, our
ideal would no longer be that of the virtuous man such as we outline
it; we would be considering a vulgar man, mingled with good and evil,
of whom a life equally mingled with good and evil would be predicated.
Even such a man might not easily be met with, and besides, if we did
meet him, he would not deserve to be called a wise man; for there would
be nothing great about him, neither the dignity of wisdom, nor the
purity of good. Happiness, therefore, is not located in the life of
the common man. Plato rightly says that you have to leave the earth to
ascend to the good, and that to become wise and happy, one should turn
one's look towards the only Good, trying to acquire resemblance to Him,
and to live a life conformable to Him.[18] That indeed must suffice
the wise man to reach his goal. To the remainder he should attach no
more value than to changes of location, none of which can add to his
happiness. If indeed he pay any attention to external things scattered
here and there around him, it is to satisfy the needs of his body so
far as he can. But as he is something entirely different from the
body, he is never disturbed at having to leave it; and he will abandon
it whenever nature will have indicated the time. Besides, he always
reserves to himself the right to deliberate about this (time to leave
the world by suicide).[19] Achievement of happiness will indeed be his
chief goal; nevertheless, he will also act, not only in view of his
ultimate goal, or himself, but on the body to which he is united. He
will care for this body, and will sustain it as long as possible. Thus
a musician uses his lyre so long as he can; but as soon as it is beyond
using, he repairs it, or abandons playing the lyre, because he now can
do without it. Leaving it on the ground, he will look at it almost with
scorn, and will sing without its accompaniment. Nevertheless it will
not have been in vain that this lyre will have been originally given to
him; for he will often have profited by its use.