adge of wealth contempt. Therefore, Aemilianus, if you
wish me to be regarded as poor, you must first prove that I am
avaricious. But if my soul lacks nothing, I care little how much of
the goods of this world be lacking to me; for it is no honour to
possess them and no reproach to lack them.

21. But let us suppose it to be otherwise. Suppose that I am poor,
because fortune has grudged me riches, because my guardian, as often
happens, misappropriated my inheritance, some enemy robbed me, or my
father left me nothing. Is it just to reproach a man for that which is
regarded as no reproach to the animal kingdom, to the eagle, to the
bull, to the lion? If the horse be strong in the possession of his
peculiar excellences, if he is pleasant to ride and swift in his
paces, no one rebukes him for the poverty of his food. Must you then
reproach me, not for any scandalous word or deed, but simply because I
live in a small house, possess an unusually small number of slaves,
subsist on unusually light diet, wear unusually light clothing, and
make unusually small purchases of food? Yet however scanty my service,
food, and raiment may seem to you, I on the contrary regard them as
ample and even excessive. Indeed I am desirous of still further
reducing them, since the less I have to distract me the happier I
shall be. For the soul, like the body, goes lightly clad when in good
health; weakness wraps itself up, and it is a sure sign of infirmity
to have many wants. We live, just as we swim, all the better for being
but lightly burdened. For in this stormy life as on the stormy ocean
heavy things sink us and light things buoy us up. It is in this
respect, I find, that the gods more especially surpass men, namely
that they lack nothing: wherefore he of mankind whose needs are
smallest is most like unto the gods.

22. I therefore regarded it as a compliment when to insult me you
asserted that my whole household consisted of a wallet and a staff.
Would that my spirit were made of such stern stuff as to permit me to
dispense with all this furniture and worthily to carry that equipment
for which Crates sacrificed all his wealth! Crates, I tell you, though
I doubt if you will believe me, Aemilianus, was a man of great wealth
and honour among the nobility of Thebes; but for love of this habit,
which you cast in my face as a crime, he gave his large and luxurious
household to his fellow citizens, resigned his troops of slaves for
solitude, s