If you would improve, lay aside such reasonings as these: “If I neglect
my affairs, I shall not have a maintenance; if I do not punish my
servant, he will be good for nothing.” For it were better to die of
hunger, exempt from grief and fear, than to live in affluence with
perturbation; and it is better that your servant should be bad than you
unhappy.
Begin therefore with little things. Is a little oil spilled or a little
wine stolen? Say to yourself, “This is the price paid for peace and
tranquillity; and nothing is to be had for nothing.” And when you call
your servant, consider that it is possible he may not come at your call;
or, if he does, that he may not do what you wish. But it is not at all
desirable for him, and very undesirable for you, that it should be in his
power to cause you any disturbance.