er took care of me when I was sick. It was but in a few
things, by way of return, I used to serve him. But now, miserable
wretch! what do I suffer, in being a slave to many, instead of one!
Yet, if I can be promoted to equestrian rank, I shall live in the
utmost prosperity and happiness." In order to obtain this, he first
deservedly suffers; and as soon as he has obtained it, it is all the
same again. "But then," he says, "if I do but get a military command,
I shall be delivered from all my troubles." He gets a military
command. He suffers as much as the vilest rogue of a slave; and,
nevertheless, he asks for a second command and a third; and when he
has put the finishing touch, and is made a senator, then he is a slave
indeed. When he comes into the public assembly, it is then that he
undergoes his finest and most splendid slavery.

[It is needful] not to be foolish, but to learn what Socrates taught,
the nature of things; and not rashly to apply general principles to
particulars. For the cause of all human evils is the not being able
to apply general principles to special cases. But different people
have different grounds of complaint; one, for instance, that he is
sick. That is not the trouble; it is in his principles. Another, that
he is poor; another, that he has a harsh father and mother; another,
that he is not in the good graces of Caesar. This is nothing else but
not understanding how to apply our principles. For who has not an idea
of evil, that it is hurtful; that it is to be avoided; that it is by
all means to be prudently guarded against? One principle does not
contradict another, except when it comes to be applied. What, then, is
this evil--thus hurtful and to be avoided? "Not to be the friend of
Caesar," says some one. He is gone; he has failed in applying his
principles; he is embarrassed; he seeks what is nothing to the
purpose. For if he comes to be Caesar's friend, he is still no nearer
to what he sought. For what is it that every man seeks? To be secure,
to be happy, to do what he pleases without restraint and without
compulsion. When he becomes the friend of Caesar, then does he cease to
be restrained; to be compelled? Is he secure? Is he happy? Whom shall
we ask? Whom can we better credit than this very man who has been his
friend? Come forth and tell us whether you sleep more quietly now than
before you were the friend of Caesar. You presently hear him cry,
"Leave off, for Heaven's sake! and do no