our
girths, and then ride on boldly.[1]

[Footnote 1: It may be observed, in passing, that a great many of
the maxims which Goethe puts under the head of _Proverbial_, are
translations from the Italian.]

And if, notwithstanding that, you fail, it is because human affairs
are the sport of chance and error. Socrates, the wisest of men, needed
the warning voice of his good genius, or [Greek: daimonion], to enable
him to do what was right in regard to his own personal affairs, or at
any rate, to avoid mistakes; which argues that the human intellect is
incompetent for the purpose. There is a saying--which is reported to
have originated with one of the Popes--that when misfortune happens to
us, the blame of it, at least in some degree, attaches to ourselves.
If this is not true absolutely and in every instance, it is certainly
true in the great majority of cases. It even looks as if this truth
had a great deal to do with the effort people make as far as possible
to conceal their misfortunes, and to put the best face they can upon
them, for fear lest their misfortunes may show how much they are to
blame.

SECTION 12.

In the case of a misfortune which has already happened and therefore
cannot be altered, you should not allow yourself to think that it
might have been otherwise; still less, that it might have been avoided
by such and such means; for reflections of this kind will only add
to your distress and make it intolerable, so that you will become a
tormentor to yourself--[Greek: heautontimoroumeaeos]. It is better to
follow the example of King David; who, as long as his son lay on the
bed of sickness, assailed Jehovah with unceasing supplications and
entreaties for his recovery; but when he was dead, snapped his fingers
and thought no more of it. If you are not light-hearted enough for
that, you can take refuge in fatalism, and have the great truth
revealed to you that everything which happens is the result of
necessity, and therefore inevitable.

However good this advice may be, it is one-sided and partial. In
relieving and quieting us for the moment, it is no doubt effective
enough; but when our misfortunes have resulted--as is usually the
case--from our own carelessness or folly, or, at any rate, partly by
our own fault, it is a good thing to consider how they might have
been avoided, and to consider it often in spite of its being a tender
subject--a salutary form of self-discipline, which will make us wiser
an