1. It was late before I received your letter, wherein you make it your
request that I would write something to you concerning the tranquillity
of the mind, and of those things in the Timaeus which require a more
perspicuous interpretation. At the same time a very urgent occasion
called upon our common friend and companion Eros to sail directly to
Rome; that which quickened him to a greater expedition was a dispatch
he received from Fundanus, that best of men, who, as his custom is,
always enjoins the making haste. Therefore, wanting full leisure to
consummate those things justly which you requested, and being on the
other side unwilling to send one from me to your dear self empty
handed, I have transcribed my commonplace book, and hastily put
together those collections which I had by me concerning this subject;
for I thought you a man that did not look after flourishes of style
and the affected elegance of language, but only required what was
instructive in its nature and useful to us in the conduct of our
lives. And I congratulate that bravery of temper in you, that though
you are admitted into the confidence of princes, and have obtained so
great a vogue of eloquence at the bar that no man hath exceeded you,
you have not, like the tragic Merops, suffered yourself to be puffed
up with the applause of the multitude, and transported beyond those
bounds which are prescribed to our passions; but you call to mind
that which you have so often heard, that a rich slipper will not cure
the gout, a diamond ring a whitlow, nor will an imperial diadem ease
the headache. For what advantage is there in honor, riches, or an
interest at court, to remove all perturbations of mind and procure an
equal tenor of life, if we do not use them with decency when they are
present to our enjoyment, and if we are continually afflicted by their
loss when we are deprived of them? And what is this but the province
of reason, when the sensual part of us grows turbulent and makes
excursions, to check its sallies and bring it again within the limits
it hath transgressed, that it may not be carried away and so perverted
with the gay appearances of things. For as Xenophon gives advice, we
ought to remember the Gods and pay them particular devotions when our
affairs are prosperous, that so when an exigency presseth us we may
more confidently invoke them, now we have conciliated their favor and
made them our friends. So wise men always ruminate upon those arguments
which have any efficacy against the troubles of the mind before their
calamities happen, that so the remedies being long prepared, they may
acquire energy, and work with a more powerful operation. For as angry
dogs are exasperated by every one’s rating them, and are flattered
to be quiet only by his voice to which they are accustomed; so it is
not easy to pacify the brutish affections of the soul but by familiar
reasons, and such as are used to be administered in such inward
distempers.
2. Besides, he that affirmed that whosoever would enjoy tranquillity of
mind must disengage himself from all private and public concerns, would
make us pay dear for our tranquillity by buying it with idleness; as if
he should prescribe thus to a sick man:—