h of your affairs goes badly? Your possessions? No. Your
body? No. But you are rich in gold and copper. What then is the matter
with you? That part of you, whatever it is, has been neglected by you
and is corrupted, the part with which we desire, with which we avoid,
with which we move towards and move from things. How neglected? He knows
not the nature of good for which he is made by nature and the nature of
evil; and what is his own, and what belongs to another; and when
anything that belongs to others goes badly, he says, Woe to me, for the
Hellenes are in danger. Wretched is his ruling faculty, and alone
neglected and uncared for. The Hellenes are going to die destroyed by
the Trojans. And if the Trojans do not kill them, will they not die?
Yes; but not all at once. What difference then does it make? For if
death is an evil, whether men die altogether, or if they die singly, it
is equally an evil. Is anything else then going to happen than the
separation of the soul and the body? Nothing. And if the Hellenes
perish, is the door closed, and is it not in your power to die? It is.
Why then do you lament (and say), Oh, you are a king and have the
sceptre of Zeus? An unhappy king does not exist more than an unhappy
god. What then art thou? In truth a shepherd: for you weep as shepherds
do, when a wolf has carried off one of their sheep: and these who are
governed by you are sheep. And why did you come hither? Was your desire
in any danger? was your aversion ([Greek: echchlisis])? was your
movement (pursuits)? was your avoidance of things? He replies, No; but
the wife of my brother was carried off. Was it not then a great gain to
be deprived of an adulterous wife? Shall we be despised then by the
Trojans? What kind of people are the Trojans, wise or foolish? If they
are wise, why do you fight with them? If they are fools, why do you care
about them?

Do you possess the body then free or is it in servile condition? We do
not know. Do you not know that it is the slave of fever, of gout,
ophthalmia, dysentery, of a tyrant, of fire, of iron, of everything
which is stronger? Yes, it is a slave. How then is it possible that
anything which belongs to the body can be free from hindrance? and how
is a thing great or valuable which is naturally dead, or earth, or mud?
Well then, do you possess nothing which is free? Perhaps nothing. And
who is able to compel you to assent to that which appears false? No man.
And who can compel you