verything else submit to you--_si tibi vis omnia
subjicere, te subjice rationi_. Self-control, too, is something which
we have in our own power; and if the worst comes to the worst, and it
touches us in a very sensitive part, we can always relax its severity.
But other people will pay no regard to our feelings, if they have
to use compulsion, and we shall be treated without pity or mercy.
Therefore it will be prudent to anticipate compulsion by self-control.

SECTION 16. We must set limits to our wishes, curb our desires,
moderate our anger, always remembering that an individual can attain
only an infinitesimal share in anything that is worth having; and
that, on the other hand, everyone must incur many of the ills of life;
in a word, we must bear and forbear--_abstinere et sustinere_; and
if we fail to observe this rule, no position of wealth or power will
prevent us from feeling wretched. This is what Horace means when he
recommends us to study carefully and inquire diligently what will
best promote a tranquil life--not to be always agitated by fruitless
desires and fears and hopes for things, which, after all, are not
worth very much:--

_Inter cuncta leges et percontabere doctos
Qua ratione queas traducere leniter aevum;
Ne te semper inops agitet vexetque cupido,
Ne pavor, et rerum mediocriter utilium spes.[1]_

[Footnote 1: Epist. I. xviii. 97.]

SECTION 17. Life consists in movement, says Aristotle; and he is
obviously right. We exist, physically, because our organism is the
seat of constant motion; and if we are to exist intellectually, it can
only be by means of continual occupation--no matter with what so long
as it is some form of practical or mental activity. You may see that
this is so by the way in which people who have no work or nothing to
think about, immediately begin to beat the devil's tattoo with their
knuckles or a stick or anything that comes handy. The truth is, that
our nature is essentially _restless_ in its character: we very soon
get tired of having nothing to do; it is intolerable boredom. This
impulse to activity should be regulated, and some sort of method
introduced into it, which of itself will enhance the satisfaction we
obtain. Activity!--doing something, if possible creating something, at
any rate learning something--how fortunate it is that men cannot exist
without that! A man wants to use his strength, to see, if he can, what
effect it will produce; and he will get the m