sy.

The valiant good man is he who, by the resolute exercise of his
freewill, has so disciplined himself as to have acquired the habit of
virtue; as the bad man is he who, by allowing his freewill to remain
inactive, and giving the bridle to his desires and passions, has
acquired the habit of vice, by which he becomes, at last, bound as by
chains of iron.

A man can only achieve strength of purpose by the action of his own
freewill. If he is to stand erect, it must be by his own efforts; for he
cannot be kept propped up by the help of others. He is master of himself
and of his actions. He can avoid falsehood, and be truthful; he can
shun sensualism, and be continent; he can turn aside from doing a cruel
thing, and be benevolent and forgiving. All these lie within the sphere
of individual efforts, and come within the range of self-discipline. And
it depends upon men themselves whether in these respects they will be
free, pure, and good on the one hand; or enslaved, impure, and miserable
on the other.

Among the wise sayings of Epictetus we find the following: "We do not
choose our own parts in life, and have nothing to do with those parts:
our simple duty is confined to playing them well. The slave may be as
free as the consul; and freedom is the chief of blessings; it dwarfs all
others; beside it all others are insignificant; with it all others are
needless; without it no others are possible.... You must teach men that
happiness is not where, in their blindness and misery, they seek it. It
is not in strength, for Myro and Ofellius were not happy; not in wealth,
for Croesus was not happy; not in power, for the Consuls were not happy;
not in all these together, for Nero and Sardanapulus and Agamemnon
sighed and wept and tore their hair, and were the slaves of
circumstances and the dupes of semblances. It lies in yourselves; in
true freedom, in the absence or conquest of every ignoble fear; in
perfect self-government; and in a power of contentment and peace, and
the even flow of life amid poverty, exile, disease, and the very valley
of the shadow of death." [163]

The sense of duty is a sustaining power even to a courageous man.
It holds him upright, and makes him strong. It was a noble saying of
Pompey, when his friends tried to dissuade him from embarking for Rome
in a storm, telling him that he did so at the great peril of his life:
"It is necessary for me to go," he said; "it is not necessary for me to
live." Wha