re them, you see whither you may betake
yourself. I think this will do for the present. But perhaps you still
abide by your opinion.

_A._ Not in the least, indeed; and I hope I am freed by these two days'
discourses from the fear of two things that I greatly dreaded.

_M._ To-morrow then for rhetoric, as we were saying; but I see we must not
drop our philosophy.

_A._ No, indeed, we will have the one in the forenoon, and this at the
usual time.

_M._ It shall be so, and I will comply with your very laudable
inclinations.

Book III. On Grief Of Mind.

I. What reason shall I assign, O Brutus, why, as we consist of mind and
body, the art of curing and preserving the body should be so much sought
after, and the invention of it, as being so useful, should be ascribed to
the immortal Gods; but the medicine of the mind should not have been so
much the object of inquiry, whilst it was unknown, nor so much attended to
and cultivated after its discovery, nor so well received or approved of by
some, and accounted actually disagreeable, and looked upon with an envious
eye by many? Is it because we, by means of the mind, judge of the pains
and disorders of the body, but do not, by means of the body, arrive at any
perception of the disorders of the mind? Hence it comes that the mind only
judges of itself, when that very faculty by which it is judged is in a bad
state. Had nature given us faculties for discerning and viewing herself,
and could we go through life by keeping our eye on her--our best
guide--there would be no reason certainly why any one should be in want of
philosophy or learning: but, as it is, she has furnished us only with some
feeble rays of light, which we immediately extinguish so completely by
evil habits and erroneous opinions, that the light of nature is nowhere
visible. The seeds of virtues are natural to our constitutions, and, were
they suffered to come to maturity, would naturally conduct us to a happy
life; but now, as soon as we are born and received into the world, we are
instantly familiarized with all kinds of depravity and perversity of
opinions; so that we may be said almost to suck in error with our nurse's
milk. When we return to our parents, and are put into the hands of tutors
and governors, we are imbued with so many errors, that truth gives place
to falsehood, and nature herself to established opinion.

II. To these we may add the poets; who, on account of the appearance they
ex