If thou choosest aught else, with
sighs and groans thou wilt be forced to follow a Might greater than
thine own, ever seeking Tranquillity without, and never able to attain
unto her. For thou seekest her where she is not to be found; and where
she is, there thou seekest her not!

LXXII

If a man would pursue Philosophy, his first task is to throw away
conceit. For it is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he has a
conceit that he already knows.

LXXIII

Give me but one young man, that has come to the School with this
intention, who stands forth a champion of this cause, and says, "All
else I renounce, content if I am but able to pass my life free from
hindrance and trouble; to raise my head aloft and face all things as a
free man; to look up to heaven as a friend of God, fearing nothing that
may come to pass!" Point out such a one to me, that I may say, "Enter,
young man, into possession of that which is thine own. For thy lot is to
adorn Philosophy. Thine are these possessions; thine these books, these
discourses!"

And when our champion has duly exercised himself in this part of the
subject, I hope he will come back to me and say:--"What I desire is to
be free from passion and from perturbation; as one who grudges no pains
in the pursuit of piety and philosophy, what I desire is to know my duty
to the Gods, my duty to my parents, to my brothers, to my country, to
strangers."

"Enter then on the second part of the subject; it is thine also."

"But I have already mastered the second part; only I wished to stand
firm and unshaken--as firm when asleep as when awake, as firm when
elated with wine as in despondency and dejection."

"Friend, you are verily a God! you cherish great designs."

LXXIV

"The question at stake," said Epictetus, "is no common one; it is
this:--Are we in our senses, or are we not?"

LXXV

If you have given way to anger, be sure that over and above the evil
involved therein, you have strengthened the habit, and added fuel to
the fire. If overcome by a temptation of the flesh, do not reckon it
a single defeat, but that you have also strengthened your dissolute
habits. Habits and faculties are necessarily affected by the
corresponding acts. Those that were not there before, spring up: the
rest gain in strength and extent. This is the account which Philosophers
give of the origin of diseases of the mind:--Suppose you have once
lusted after money: if reas