ng the signal for my retreat: I am not deserting Thee--far be that
from me! I only perceive that thou needest me no longer.

CXXXIII

If you are in Gyaros, do not let your mind dwell upon life at Rome,
and all the pleasures it offered to you when living there, and all that
would attend your return. Rather be intent on this--how he that lives in
Gyaros may live in Gyaros like a man of spirit. And if you are at Rome,
do not let your mind dwell upon the life at Athens, but study only how
to live at Rome.

Finally, in the room of all other pleasures put this--the pleasure which
springs from conscious obedience to God.

CXXXIV

To a good man there is no evil, either in life or death. And if God
supply not food, has He not, as a wise Commander, sounded the signal
for retreat and nothing more? I obey, I follow--speaking good of my
Commander, and praising His acts. For at His good pleasure I came; and I
depart when it pleases Him; and while I was yet alive that was my work,
to sing praises unto God!

CXXXV

Reflect that the chief source of all evils to Man, and of baseness and
cowardice, is not death, but the fear of death.

Against this fear then, I pray you, harden yourself; to this let all
your reasonings, your exercises, your reading tend. Then shall you know
that thus alone are men set free.

CXXXVI

He is free who lives as he wishes to live; to whom none can do violence,
none hinder or compel; whose impulses are unimpeded, whose desires are
attain their purpose, who falls not into what he would avoid. Who then
would live in error?--None. Who would live deceived and prone to fall,
unjust, intemperate, in abject whining at his lot?--None. Then doth no
wicked man live as he would, and therefore neither is he free.

CXXXVII

Thus do the more cautious of travellers act. The road is said to be
beset by robbers. The traveller will not venture alone, but awaits the
companionship on the road of an ambassador, a quaestor or a proconsul.
To him he attaches himself and thus passes by in safety. So doth the
wise man in the world. Many are the companies of robbers and tyrants,
many the storms, the straits, the losses of all a man holds dearest.
Whither shall he fall for refuge--how shall he pass by unassailed? What
companion on the road shall he await for protection? Such and such a
wealthy man, of consular rank? And how shall I be profited, if he
is stripped and falls to lamentation and we