THE MARK OF EFFORT.
1. Seek not to have things happen as you choose them, but rather choose
them to happen as they do, and so shall you live prosperously.
2. Disease is a hindrance of the body, not of the Will, unless the Will
itself consent. Lameness is a hindrance of the leg, not of the Will. And
this you may say on every occasion, for nothing can happen to you but
you will find it a hindrance not of yourself but of some other thing.
3. What, then, are the things that oppress us and perturb us? What else
than opinions? He that goeth away and leaveth his familiars and
companions and wonted places and habits--with what else is he oppressed
than his opinions? Now, little children, if they cry because their nurse
has left them for a while, straightway forget their sorrow when they are
given a small cake. Wilt thou be likened unto a little child?
----"Nay, by Zeus! for I would not be thus affected by a little cake,
but by right opinions."
And what are these?
They are such as a man should study all day long to observe--that he be
not subject to the effects of anything that is alien to him, neither of
friend, nor place, nor exercises; yea, not even of his own body, but to
remember the Law, and have it ever before his eyes. And what is the
divine Law? To hold fast that which is his own, and to claim nothing
that is another's; to use what is given him, and not to covet what is
not given; to yield up easily and willingly what is taken away, giving
thanks for the time that he has had it at his service. This do--or cry
for the nurse and mamma; for what doth it matter to what or whom thou
art subject, from what thy welfare hangs? Wherein art thou better than
one who bewails himself for his mistress, if thou lament thy exercises
and porticoes and comrades, and all such pastime? Another cometh,
grieving because he shall no more drink of the water of Dirce. And is
the Marcian water worse than that of Dirce?
----"But I was used to the other."
And to this also thou shalt be used; and when thou art so affected
towards it, lament for it too, and try to make a verse like that of
Euripides--
"The baths of Nero and the Marcian stream"[1]
Behold how tragedies are made, when common chances happen to foolish
men!
4.----"But when shall I see Athens and the Acropolis again?"
Wretched man! doth not that satisfy thee which thou seest every day?
Hast thou aught better or greater to see than the sun, the moon, the
stars, the common earth, the sea? But if withal thou mark the way of Him
that governeth the whole and bear Him about within thee, wilt thou still
long for cut stones and a fine rock? And when thou shalt come to leave
the sun itself and the moon, what wilt thou do? Sit down and cry, like
the children? What, then, wert thou doing in the school? What didst thou
hear, what didst thou learn? Why didst thou write thyself down a
philosopher, when thou mightest have written the truth, as thus:--_I
made certain beginnings, and read Chrysippus, but did not so much as
enter the door of a philosopher_? For how shouldst thou have aught in
common with Socrates, who died as he died, who lived as he lived--or
with Diogenes? Dost thou think that any of these men lamented or was
indignant because he should see such a man or such a woman no more? or
because he should not dwell in Athens or in Corinth, but, as it might
chance, in Susa or Ecbatana? When a man can leave the banquet or the
game when he pleases, shall such a one grieve if he remains? Shall he
not, as in a game, stay only so long as he is entertained? A man of this
stamp would easily endure such a thing as perpetual exile or sentence of
death.
Wilt thou not now be weaned as children are, and take more solid food,
nor cry any more after thy mother and nurse, wailing like an old woman?
----"But if I quit them I shall grieve them."
Thou grieve them? Never; but that shall grieve them which grieveth
thee--Opinion. What hast thou then to do? Cast away thy own bad opinion;
and they, if they do well, will cast away theirs; if not, they are the
causes of their own lamenting.
5. Man, be mad at last, as the saying is, for peace, for freedom, for
magnanimity. Lift up thy head as one delivered from slavery. Dare to
look up to God and say: _Deal with me henceforth as thou wilt; I am of
one mind with thee; I am thine. I reject nothing that seems good to
thee; lead me whithersoever thou wilt, clothe me in what dress thou
wilt. Wilt thou have me govern or live privately, or stay at home, or go
into exile, or be a poor man or a rich? For all these conditions I will
be thy advocate with men--I show the nature of each of them, what it
is._
Nay, but sit in a corner and wait for thy mother to feed thee.[2]
6. Who would Hercules have been if he had sat at home? He would have
been Eurystheus, and not Hercules. And how many companions and friends
had he in his journeying about the world? But nothing was dearer to him
than God; and for this he was believed to be the son of God, yea, and
was the son of God. And trusting in God, he went about purging away
lawlessness and wrong. But thou art no Hercules, and canst not purge
away evils not thine own? nor yet Theseus, who cleared Attica of evil
things? Then clear away thine own. From thy breast, from thy mind cast
out, instead of Procrustes and Sciron, grief, fear, covetousness, envy,
malice, avarice, effeminacy, profligacy. And these things cannot
otherwise be cast out than by looking to God only, being affected only
by Him, and consecrated to His commands. But choosing anything else than
this, thou wilt follow with groaning and lamentation whatever is
stronger than thou, ever seeking prosperity in things outside thyself,
and never able to attain it. For thou seekest it where it is not, and
neglectest to seek it where it is.