And let us apply it to all the casualties of our life after this
manner. I know my riches have only the duration of a day; I know
that the same hand which bestowed authority upon me could spoil me of
those ornaments and take it away again; I know my wife to be the best
of women, but still a woman; my friend to be faithful, yet the cement
might be broken, for he was a man,—which, as Plato saith, is a very
inconstant creature. These previous expostulations and preparations,
if any thing fall out which is against our mind but not contrary to
our expectation, will cure the palpitation of our hearts, make our
disturbances settle and go down, and bring our minds to a consistence;
not indulging us in these lazy exclamations, Who would have thought
it?—I looked for better, and did not expect this. Carneades gives us
a short memoir concerning great things, that the cause from whence all
our troubles proceed is that they befall unexpectedly. The kingdom of
Macedon compared with the Roman empire sank in the competition, for
it was only an inconsiderable part of it; yet when Perseus lost it,
he not only deplored his own misfortune, but he was thought by all
the most abject and miserable of mankind. Yet Aemilius that conquered
him, when he delivered up the command of sea and land into the hands
of a successor, was crowned and did sacrifice, and was esteemed happy.
For he knew, when he received his honor, that it was but temporary,
and that he must lay down the authority he had taken up. But Perseus
was stripped of his dominions by surprise. The poet hath prettily
illustrated what it is for a thing to fall out unexpectedly. For
Ulysses, when his dog died, could not forbear crying, yet would not
suffer himself to weep when his wife sate by him crying, but stopped
his tears; for here he came strengthened with reason and beforehand
acquainted with the accident, but before it was the suddenness of the
disaster which raised his sorrow and threw him into complaints.
17. Generally speaking, those things which happen to us against our
will afflict us partly by a pungency that is in their nature, and
partly custom and opinion so effeminate us that we are impatient under
them. But against all contingencies we should have that of Menander in
readiness:—
Afflictions to thyself thou dost create,
Thy fancy only is unfortunate.
For what are afflictions to thee, if they touch neither thy body
nor thy soul? Of this sort is the low extraction of thy father, the
adultery of thy wife, the loss of a garland, or being deprived of the
upper seat in an assembly. And with all these crosses thou mayest have
ease of mind and strength of body. But to those things which in their
own nature excite our grief,—such as sickness, pains of the body,
and the death of our friends and children,—we ought to apply that of
Euripides:—
Alas! alas! and well-a-day!
But why _alas_ and _well away_?
Naught else to us hath yet been dealt,
But that which daily men have felt.
There is no reasoning more effectual to restrain our passions and
hinder our minds from falling into despair, than that which sets before
us a physical necessity and the common lot of nature. And it is our
bodies only that lie exposed to this destiny, and which we offer (as
it were) as a handle to Fortune; but the fort-royal is still secure,
where our strength lies and our most precious things are treasured up.
When Demetrius took Megara, he asked Stilpo whether he had not suffered
particular damage in the plundering; to which he made this answer,
that he saw nobody that could rob him. So when Fate hath made all the
depredations upon us it possibly can and hath left us naked, yet there
is something still within us which is out of the reach of the pirate,—