in exile, have
relieved their sorrow by the study of literature. A great man of this
city, Demetrius Phalereus, when he had been unjustly banished from his
country, fled to Alexandria, to king Ptolemy; and, as he was very eminent
for his knowledge of this philosophy to which we are exhorting you, and
had been a pupil of Theophrastus, he wrote many admirable treatises during
the time of that unfortunate leisure of his, not, indeed, for any utility
to himself, for that was out of his reach, but the cultivation of his mind
was to him a sort of sustenance for his human nature.

I, indeed, have often heard Cnaeus Aufidius, a man of praetorian rank, of
great learning, but blind, say that he was affected more by a regret for
the loss of light, than of any actual benefit which he derived from his
eyes. Lastly, if sleep did not bring us rest to our bodies, and a sort of
medicine after labour, we should think it contrary to nature, for it
deprives us of our senses, and takes away our power of action. Therefore,
if either nature were in no need of rest, or if it could obtain it by any
other means, we should be glad, since even now we are in the habit of
doing without sleep, in a manner almost contrary to nature, when we want
to do or to learn something.

XX. But there are tokens supplied by nature, still clearer, or, I may say,
entirely evident and indubitable,--more especially, indeed, in man, but
also in every animal,--that the mind is always desirous to be doing
something, and can in no condition endure perpetual rest. It is easy to
see this in the earliest age of children; for although I fear that I may
appear prolix on this subject, still all the ancient philosophers, and
especially those of our own country, have recourse to the cradle for
illustrations, because they think that in childhood they can most easily
detect the will of nature. We see, then, that even infants cannot rest;
but, when they have advanced a little, then they are delighted with even
laborious sports, so that they cannot be deterred from them even by
beating: and that desire for action grows with their growth. Therefore, we
should not like to have the slumber of Endymion given to us, not even if
we expected to enjoy the most delicious dreams; and if it were, we should
think it like death. Moreover, we see that even the most indolent men, men
of a singular worthlessness, are still always in motion both in mind and
body; and when they are not hindered by so