rm
of any kind; for if they did, he who felt it would immediately become
bad. Now, in the case of all things which have a certain constitution,
whatever harm may happen to any of them, that which is so affected
becomes consequently worse; but in the like case, a man becomes both
better, if one may say so, and more worthy of praise by making a right
use of these accidents. And finally remember that nothing harms him who
is really a citizen, which does not harm the state; nor yet does
anything harm the state, which does not harm law [order]; and of these
things which are called misfortunes not one harms law. What then does
not harm law does not harm either state or citizen.

34. To him who is penetrated by true principles even the briefest
precept is sufficient, and any common precept, to remind him that he
should be free from grief and fear. For example:--

"Leaves, some the wind scatters on the ground--
So is the race of men."[A]

Leaves, also, are thy children; and leaves, too, are they who cry out as
if they were worthy of credit and bestow their praise, or on the
contrary curse, or secretly blame and sneer; and leaves, in like manner,
are those who shall receive and transmit a man's fame to after-times.
For all such things as these "are produced in the season of spring," as
the poet says; then the wind casts them down; then the forest produces
other leaves in their places. But a brief existence is common to all
things, and yet thou avoidest and pursuest all things as if they would
be eternal. A little time, and thou shalt close thy eyes; and him who
has attended thee to thy grave another soon will lament.

[A] Homer, II., vi. 146.

35. The healthy eye ought to see all visible things and not to say, I
wish for green things; for this is the condition of a diseased eye. And
the healthy hearing and smelling ought to be ready to perceive all that
can be heard and smelled. And the healthy stomach ought to be with
respect to all food just as the mill with respect to all things which it
is formed to grind. And accordingly the healthy understanding ought to
be prepared for everything which happens; but that which says, Let my
dear children live, and let all men praise whatever I may do, is an eye
which seeks for green things, or teeth which seek for soft things.

36. There is no man so fortunate that there shall not be by him when he
is dying some who are pleased with what is going to happen.[A] Suppose
t