se assertions proceed from the roots of errors, which must
be entirely plucked up and destroyed, not pared and amputated. But as I
suspect that your inquiry is not so much respecting the wise man as
concerning yourself, (for you allow that he is free from all
perturbations, and you would willingly be so too yourself,) let us see
what remedies there are which may be applied by philosophy to the diseases
of the mind. There is certainly some remedy; nor has nature been so unkind
to the human race, as to have discovered so many things salutary to the
body, and none which are medicinal to the mind. She has even been kinder
to the mind than to the body; inasmuch as you must seek abroad for the
assistance which the body requires; while the mind has all that it
requires within itself. But in proportion as the excellency of the mind is
of a higher and more divine nature, the more diligence does it require;
and therefore reason, when it is well applied, discovers what is best, but
when it is neglected it becomes involved in many errors. I shall apply,
then, all my discourse to you; for though you pretend to be inquiring
about the wise man, your inquiry may possibly be about yourself. Various,
then, are the cures of those perturbations which I have expounded, for
every disorder is not to be appeased the same way;--one medicine must be
applied to the man who mourns, another to the pitiful, another to the
person who envies, for there is this difference to be maintained in all
the four perturbations; we are to consider whether our discourse had
better be directed to perturbations in general, which are a contempt of
reason, or a somewhat too vehement appetite; or whether it would be better
applied to particular descriptions, as, for instance, to fear, lust, and
the rest, and whether it appears preferable to endeavour to remove that
which has occasioned the grief, or rather to attempt wholly to eradicate
every kind of grief. As, should any one grieve that he is poor, the
question is, would you maintain poverty to be no evil, or would you
contend that a man ought not to grieve at anything? Certainly this last is
the best course; for should you not convince him with regard to poverty,
you must allow him to grieve; but if you remove grief by particular
arguments, such as I used yesterday, the evil of poverty is in some manner
removed.

XXVIII. But any perturbation of the mind of this sort may be, as it were,
wiped away by this method of ap