alone; at most, to his child's too. The less necessity there is for
you to come into contact with mankind in general, in the relations
whether of business or of personal intimacy, the better off you are.
Loneliness and solitude have their evils, it is true; but if you
cannot feel them all at once, you can at least see where they lie; on
the other hand, society is _insidious_ in this respect; as in offering
you what appears to be the pastime of pleasing social intercourse, it
works great and often irreparable mischief. The young should early be
trained to bear being left alone; for it is a source of happiness and
peace of mind.

It follows from this that a man is best off if he be thrown upon his
own resources and can be all in all to himself; and Cicero goes so far
as to say that a man who is in this condition cannot fail to be very
happy--_nemo potest non beatissimus esse qui est totus aptus ex sese,
quique in se uno ponit omnia._[1] The more a man has in himself, the
less others can be to him. The feeling of self-sufficiency! it is that
which restrains those whose personal value is in itself great riches,
from such considerable sacrifices as are demanded by intercourse with
the world, let alone, then, from actually practicing self-denial by
going out of their way to seek it. Ordinary people are sociable and
complaisant just from the very opposite feeling;--to bear others'
company is easier for them than to bear their own. Moreover, respect
is not paid in this world to that which has real merit; it is reserved
for that which has none. So retirement is at once a proof and a result
of being distinguished by the possession of meritorious qualities. It
will therefore show real wisdom on the part of any one who is worth
anything in himself, to limit his requirements as may be necessary, in
order to preserve or extend his freedom, and,--since a man must come
into some relations with his fellow-men--to admit them to his intimacy
as little as possible.

[Footnote 1: _Paradoxa Stoidorum_: II.]

I have said that people are rendered sociable by their ability to
endure solitude, that is to say, their own society. They become
sick of themselves. It is this vacuity of soul which drives them to
intercourse with others,--to travels in foreign countries. Their mind
is wanting in elasticity; it has no movement of its own, and so they
try to give it some,--by drink, for instance. How much drunkenness
is due to this cause alone! They