I might truly say, Serenus, that there is as wide a difference between
the Stoics and the other sects of philosophers as there is between men
and women, since each class contributes an equal share to human
society, but the one is born to command, the other to obey. The other
philosophers deal with us gently and coaxingly, just as our
accustomed family physicians usually do with our bodies, treating them
not by the best and shortest method, but by that which we allow them
to employ; whereas the Stoics adopt a manly course, and do not care
about its appearing attractive to those who are entering upon it, but
that it should as quickly as possible take us out of the world, and
lead us to that lofty eminence which is so far beyond the scope of any
missile weapon that it is above the reach of Fortune herself. "But the
way by which we are asked to climb is steep and uneven." What then?
Can heights be reached by a level path? Yet they are not so sheer and
precipitous as some think. It is only the first part that has rocks
and cliffs and no apparent outlet, just as many hills seen from a long
way off appear abruptly steep and joined together, because the
distance deceives our sight, and then, as we draw nearer, those very
hills which our mistaken eyes had made into one gradually unfold
themselves, those parts which seemed precipitous from afar assume a
gently sloping outline. When just now mention was made of Marcus Cato,
you whose mind revolts at injustice were indignant at Cato's own age
having so little understood him, at its having allotted a place below
Vatinius to one who towered above both Caesar and Pompey; it seemed
shameful to you, that when he spoke against some law in the Forum his
toga was torn from him, and that he was hustled through the hands of a
mutinous mob from the Rostra as far as the arch of Fabius,[77]
enduring all the bad language, spitting, and other insults of the
frantic rabble.
I then answered, that you had good cause to be anxious on behalf of
the commonwealth, which Publius Clodius on the one side, Vatinius and
all the greatest scoundrels on the other, were putting up for sale,
and, carried away by their blind covetousness, did not understand that
when they sold it they themselves were sold with it; I bade you have
no fears on behalf of Cato himself, because the wise man can neither
receive injury nor-insult, and it is more certain that the immortal
gods have given Cato as a pattern of a wise man to us, than that they
gave Ulysses or Hercules to the earlier ages; for these our Stoics
have declared were wise men, unconquered by labors, despisers of
pleasure, and superior to all terrors. Cato did not slay wild beasts,
whose pursuit belongs to huntsmen and countrymen, nor did he
exterminate fabulous creatures with fire and sword, or live in times
when it was possible to believe that the heavens could be supported on
the shoulders of one man. In an age which had thrown off its belief in
antiquated superstitions, and had carried material knowledge to its
highest point, he had to struggle against that many-headed monster,
ambition, against that boundless lust for power which the whole world
divided among three men could not satisfy. He alone withstood the
vices of a worn-out state sinking into ruin through its own bulk; he
upheld the falling commonwealth as far as it could be upheld by one
man's hand, until at last his support was withdrawn, and he shared the
crash which he had so long averted, and perished together with that
from which it was impious to separate him--for Cato did not outlive
freedom, nor did freedom outlive Cato. Think you that the people could
do any wrong to such a man when they tore away his praetorship or his
toga? when they bespattered his sacred head with the rinsings of their
mouths? The wise man is safe, and no injury or insult can touch
him....
Consider now, whether any thief, or false accuser, or headstrong
neighbor, or rich man enjoying the power conferred by a childless old
age, could do any injury to this man, from whom neither war nor an
enemy whose profession was the noble art of battering city walls could
take away anything. Amid the flash of swords on all sides, and the
riot of the plundering soldiery, amid the flames and blood and ruin of
the fallen city, amid the crash of temples falling upon their gods,
one man was at peace. You need not therefore account that a reckless
boast, for which I will give you a surety, if my word goes for
nothing. Indeed, you would hardly believe so much constancy or such
greatness of mind to belong to any man; but here a man comes forward
to prove that you have no reason for doubting that one who is but of
human birth can raise himself above human necessities, can tranquilly
behold pains, losses, diseases, wounds, and great natural convulsions
roaring around him, can bear adversity with calm and prosperity with
moderation, neither yielding to the former nor trusting to the latter,
that he can remain the same amid all varieties of fortune, and think
nothing to be his own save himself, and himself too only as regards
his better part....
You have no cause for saying, as you are wont to do, that this wise
man of ours is nowhere to be found; we do not invent him as an unreal
glory of the human race, or conceive a mighty shadow of an untruth,
but we have displayed and will display him just as we sketch him, tho
he may perhaps be uncommon, and only one appears at long intervals;
for what is great and transcends the common ordinary type is not often
produced; but this very Marcus Cato himself, the mention of whom
started this discussion, was a man who I fancy even surpassed our
model. Moreover, that which hurts must be stronger than that which is
hurt. Now wickedness is not stronger than virtue; therefore the wise
man can not be hurt. Only the bad attempt to injure the good. Good men
are at peace among themselves; bad ones are equally mischievous to the
good and to one another. If a man can not be hurt by one weaker than
himself, and a bad man be weaker than a good one, and the good have no
injury to dread, except from one unlike themselves; then, no injury
takes effect upon the wise man; for by this time I need not remind you
that no one save the wise man is good....
The nobler a man is by birth, by reputation, or by inheritance, the
more bravely he should bear himself, remembering that the tallest men
stand in the front rank in battle. As for insults, offensive language,
marks of disgrace, and such like disfigurements, he ought to bear them
as he would bear the shouts of the enemy, and darts or stones flung
from a distance, which rattle upon his helmet without causing a wound;
while he should look upon injuries as wounds, some received on his
armor and others on his body, which he endures without falling or even
leaving his place in the ranks. Even tho you be hard prest and
violently attacked by the enemy, still it is base to give way; hold
the post assigned to you by nature. You ask, what this post is? it is
that of being a man. The wise man has another help, of the opposite
kind to this; you are hard at work, while he has already won the
victory. Do not quarrel with your own good advantage, and, until you
shall have made your way to the truth, keep alive this hope in your
minds, be willing to receive the news of a better life, and encourage
it by your admiration and your prayers; it is to the interest of the
commonwealth of mankind that there should be some one who is
unconquered, some one against whom fortune has no power.