4. Has the Creator given us eyes to no purpose, and to no purpose has He infused into them a spirit so strong and of such skilful contrivance as to reach a long way and to fashion the forms of things which are seen! What messenger is so swift and vigilant? And to no purpose has He made the interjacent atmosphere so efficacious and elastic that the vision penetrates through the atmosphere, which is in a manner moved! And to no purpose has He made light, without the presence of which there would be no use in any other thing! Let us be neither ungrateful for these gifts nor forget the things which are superior to them. Indeed, for the power of seeing and hearing, and for life itself and for the things which contribute to support it, for fruits, and for wine, and oil, let us give thanks to Deity; but let us remember that He has given us something better than all these: The power of using them, proving them, and estimating the value of each.

SELECTION XXII.

How is it possible that a man who has nothing, who is naked, houseless, without hearth, squalid, without a servant, without a city, can pass a life that flows easily! See, the Deity has sent men to show that it is possible. The wisest and best have lived nobly and happily without a city, without a house, without possessions, without a servant; have slept on the ground, had no wife, no

children, no prætorium, but only the earth and heavens, and one poor cloak. cloak. And what did they want? Were not they without sorrow? were not they without fear? Were they not free? When did any one see them failing in the object of their chief desire? or ever falling into that which they would avoid? did they ever blame Deity or man?

2. The doctrine of wise men promises us peace even against all Storms of Evil; it says: Men, if you will attend to me, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you will not feel sorrow, nor anger, nor compulsion, nor hindrance, but you will pass your time without perturbations and free from everything. When one has attained this peace through the right exercise of his Reason, he is content when he is alone; he sees and reflects: Now no evil can happen to me; for me there is no robber, no earthquake; every thing is full of peace, full of tranquility; every way, every city, every meeting, neighbor, companion, is harmless.

3. If one exercises us in keeping our temper he does us good. Is one neighbor bad? bad to himself, but good to us! for he exercises our good disposition and our moderation. Is a father bad? bad to himself, but to us good. This is the rod of Hermes: touch with it what you please, as the saying is, and it will be of gold. We say: bring what you please, and we will make it good; bring disease, bring death, bring poverty, bring

abuse, bring trial on capital charges; all these things shall be made profitable to us.

4. But what will you do with death? Why, what else than that it shall do us honor, or that it shall show us what a man is who follows the will of Nature! What will you do with disease? we will show its nature, we will be conspicuous in it, we will be firm, we will be happy, we will not flatter the physician, we will not wish to die. What else do you ask? whatever you shall give us, we will make it happy, fortunate, honored, a thing which a man ought to seek.

5. Of things some are good, some are bad, and others are indifferent. The good are the virtues and the things which partake of the virtues; the bad are the vices and the things which partake of them; and the indifferent are the things which lie between the virtues and the vices: wealth, health, life, death, pleasure, pain. If one is unhappy, remember that his unhappiness is his own fault; for the Creator has made all men to be happy. It is not fit for us. to be unhappy on account of any person, but to be happy on account of all; and chiefly on account of Him who made us for this very end.

6. Show a human soul ready to think as the All-Wise One does and not to blame either Him or man, ready not to be disappointed about any thing, not to consider himself damaged by any thing, not to be angry, not to be envious, not to be

jealous; desirous from a man to become like the Deity and, in this mortal body, thinking of fellowship with Him; Show such a man! Before all the ruling faculty of such a man must be purer than the sun; instead of arms and guards it is Conscience which gives this power. When one knows that he has watched and labored for mankind, and has slept pure, and sleep has left him still purer; and that, whatever he has thought has been as a friend of all men as well as of the Immortals and as a minister as well as a participator of the power and love of the Deity, then all is happiness, all is peace.

SELECTION XXIII.

IF one aspires to be a lover of Wisdom let him prepare himself from the beginning to be ridiculed, and expect that many will sneer at him; but let him hold on to the things which seem to him best as one appointed by Deity to this station. And let him remember that if he abides in the same principles the men who at first ridiculed will afterward commend him, but if he shall have been overpowered by them, he will bring on himself double ridicule.

2. When one has decided that a thing ought to be done and is doing it, let him never avoid being seen doing it, though the many shall form an unfavorable opinion about it; if it is not right to do it, let him avoid doing the thing; but if it is

right, why should he be afraid of those who shall find fault wrongly! The sun does not wait for prayers and incantations to be induced to rise, but immediately shines and is saluted by all; so let us also not wait for clappings of hands and shouts of praise to be induced to do good; but be doers of good voluntarily, and we will be beloved as much as the sun.

3. Let not the clamor of a senseless multitude alarm us, nor let us be moved from our purpose by a rabble when they unjustly attempt to move us. Let not these thoughts afflict us: I shall live unhonored and be nobody, nowhere! if want of honor is an evil, we cannot be in evil through the means of another any more than we can be involved in anything base. Therefore, let us not be ashamed of that disgrace which proceeds from men's opinion, but fly from that which comes from the truth.

4. If we wish to be well spoken of let us learn to speak well of others; when we have learned to speak well of them let us try to act well; so we will reap the fruit of being well spoken of. When any person treats us ill or speaks ill of us let us remember that he does this or says this because he thinks that it is his duty. It is not possible for him to follow that which seems right to us, but that which seems right to himself; if he is wrong in his opinion of us, he is the person who is hurt, for he is the person who has

been deceived. If we proceed, then, from these instructions we will be mild in temper to him who reviles us; we will say, on each occasion: It seemed so to him!

5. Forgiveness is better than revenge; for forgiveness is the sign of a gentle nature, but revenge the sign of a savage nature. One being asked how a man should give pain to his enemy, answered: By preparing himself to live the best life that he can.

6. Let us fortify ourselves with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress. Let nothing be valued more than Truth, not even selection of a friendship.

7. If we wish to live without perturbation and with pleasure, let us try to have all who dwell with us good; and we will have them good if we instruct those willing to be taught, and dismiss those who are unwilling; for there will fly away, together with those who have fled from us, both wickedness and slavery; and there will be left, with those who remain with us, goodness and liberty.

8. If a man places a piece of quenched charcoal close to a piece that is burning, either the quenched charcoal will quench the other or the burning charcoal will light that which is quenched. Since the danger is great we must cautiously enter into intimacies with the vulgar sort, and remember that it is impossible that a man can keep company with one who is covered with soot

without being partaker of the soot himself. Until good sentiments are fixed in us and we shall have acquired a certain power for our security, let us be careful in our association with vulgar persons; if we are not every day, like wax in the sun, there will be melted away whatever we have inscribed on our minds. Let us withdraw ourselves far from the sun so long as we have waxen sentiments.

9. We should listen to those who wish to advise what is useful, but not to those who are eager to flatter on all occasions; the first really see what is useful; the second look to that which agrees with the opinion of those who possess power and, imitating the shadows of bodies, they assent to what is said by the power

ful.

SELECTION XXIV.

IT is better by assenting to Truth to conquer opinion, than by assenting to opinion to be conquered by Truth. If we seek Truth, we will not desire by every means to gain a victory; and if we have found Truth, we will have the gain of not being defeated. Truth conquers with itself, but opinion conquers among those who are given to externals. Truth is a thing immortal and perpetual; it gives to us a beauty which fades not away in time, nor does it take away the freedom of speech which proceeds from Justice; it gives to us the knowledge of what

is just and lawful, separating from them the unjust and the lawless.

2. When we are children our parents deliver us to a pedagogue to take care on all occasions that we suffer no harm; but when we are become men the Deity delivers us to our Innate Conscience to take care of ourselves, this guardianship we must in no way despise lest we both displease Him and be enemies to our own Conscience.

3. A soul which is conversant with Virtue is like an ever-flowing fountain it is pure, and tranquil, and potable, and sweet, and communicative and abundant and free from harm.

4. Let our talk be of the All-wise One every day rather than of our food; let us think of Him more fre

quently than we breathe. If we al

ways remember that whatever we are doing, in the soul or in the body, He is near as an inspector, we will not err in our prayers or deeds and will have Him dwelling with us continually.

5. If we have received the impression of any pleasure, let us guard ourselves against being carried away by it; let the thing wait for us, and allow ourselves a certain delay on our own part; then let us think of both times: of the time when we will enjoy the pleasure, and the time after the enjoyment of the pleasure when we will repent and will reproach ourselves. Let us set against these how we will rejoice if we have abstained from the

ease on a broad couch, so also it is better to contract oneself within a small competence and to be happy than to have a great fortune and to be wretched; for it is not poverty which produces sorrow but desire, nor does wealth release from fear but Reason; if then we acquire Reason we will neither desire wealth nor complain of poverty.

6. Fortune of the body and vice of the soul is a bad fortune, for he who is free in body but bound in soul is a slave; on the contrary, he who is bound in the body but free in the soul is free. Remember that we entertain two guests, body and soul; whatever we give to the body we soon eject, but what we give to the soul we keep always.

7. Pleasure, like a kind of bait, is thrown in front of everything which is really bad and easily allures greedy souls to the hook of perdition. Nothing is meaner than love of pleasure, and love of gain, and pride; nothing is superior to magnanimity, and gentleness, and love of mankind, and beneficence.

8. Of pleasures, those which occur most rarely give the greatest delight; if a man transgresses moderation, the things which give the greatest delight become the things which give the least.

9. As it is better to lie compressed in a narrow bed and be

10. No one who loves money, and loves pleasure, and loves fame, also loves mankind; but only he who loves Virtue. Let us examine ourselves whether we wish to be rich or to be happy; if we wish to be rich, we should know that it is neither a good thing nor always in our power; but if we wish to be happy, we should know that it is both a good thing and in our power; for wealth is a temporary loan of fortune, but Happiness comes from the Will. from the Will. Contentment, as it is a short road and pleasant, has great delight and little trouble.

11. When we see a viper or an asp or a scorpion in an ivory or golden box we do not, on account of the costliness of the material, love it or think it happy; but because the nature of it is pernicious, we turn away from it and loathe it. So when we shall see vice dwelling in wealth and in the swollen fulness of fortune, let us not be struck by the splendor of the material but despise the false character of the morals.