THAT A MAN MAY ACT HIS PART BUT NOT CHOOSE IT.
1. Remember that thou art an actor in a play, of such a part as it may
please the director to assign thee; of a short part if he choose a short
part; of a long one if he choose a long. And if he will have thee take
the part of a poor man, or of a cripple, or a governor, or a private
person, mayest thou act that part with grace! For thine it is to act
well the allotted part, but to choose it is another's.
2. Say no more then, _How will it be with me?_ for however it be thou
wilt settle it well, and the issue shall be fortunate. What would
Hercules have been had he said, _How shall I contrive that a great lion
may not appear to me, or a great boar, or a savage man?_ And what hast
thou to do with that? if a great boar appear, thou wilt fight the
greater fight; if evil men, thou wilt clear the earth of them. _But if I
die thus?_ Thou wilt die a good man, in the accomplishing of a noble
deed. For since we must by all means die, a man cannot be found but he
will be doing somewhat, either tilling or digging or trading or
governing, or having an indigestion or a diarrhoea. What wilt thou,
then, that Death shall find thee doing? I, for my part, will choose some
work, humane, beneficent, social, noble. But if I am not able to be
found doing things of this greatness, then, at least, I will be doing
that which none can hinder me to do, that which is given to me to
do--namely, correcting myself, bettering my faculty for making use of
appearances, working out my peace, giving what is due in every
obligation of life; and if I prosper so far, then entering upon the
third topic of philosophy, which concerneth the security of judgments.
3. If Death shall find me in the midst of these studies, it shall
suffice me if I can lift up my hands to God and say, _The means which
thou gavest me for the perceiving of thy government, and for the
following of the same, have I not neglected: so far as in me lies, I
have not dishonored thee. Behold how I have used my senses, and my
natural conceptions. Have I ever blamed thee? was I ever offended at
aught that happened, or did I desire it should happen otherwise? Did I
ever desire to transgress my obligations? That thou didst beget me I
thank thee for what thou gavest. I am content that I have used thy gifts
so long. Take them again, and set them in what place thou wilt, for
thine were all things, and thou gavest them me._
4. Is it not enough to depart in this condition? and what life is better
and fairer than one like this, and what end more happy?