troubled concerning the portion decreed to
thee in the Universe? Remember this alternative: either there is a
Providence or simply matter! Recall all the proofs that the world is, as
it were, a city or a commonwealth! But perhaps the desires of the body
still torment thee? Forget not, then, that the mind, when conscious of
its real self, when self-reliant, shares not the agitations of the body,
be they great or small. Recall too all thou hast learned (and now
holdest as true) concerning pleasure and pain. But perhaps what men call
Fame allures thee? Behold how quickly all things are forgotten! Before
us, after us, the formless Void of endless ages! How vain is human
praise! How fickle and undiscriminating those who seem to praise! How
limited the sphere of the greatest fame! For the whole earth is but a
point in space, thy dwelling-place a tiny nook therein. How few are
those who dwell therein, and what manner of men are those who will
praise thee!

Therefore, forget not to retire into thine own little country
place,--thyself. Above all, be not diverted from thy course. Be serene,
be free, contemplate all things as a man, as a lover of his kind, and of
his country--yet withal as a being born to die. Have readiest to thy
hand, above all others, these two thoughts: one, that _things_ cannot
touch the soul; the other, that things are perpetually changing and
ceasing to be. Remember how many of these changes thou thyself hast
seen! The Universe is change. But as thy thoughts are, so thy life shall
be. (Book iv., Sec.3.)

* * * * *

All things that befall thee should seem to thee as natural as roses in
spring or fruits in autumn: such things, I mean, as disease, death,
slander, dissimulation, and all other things which give pleasure or pain
to foolish men. (Book iv., Sec.44.)

* * * * *

Be thou like a lofty headland. Endlessly against it dash the waves; yet
it stands unshaken, and lulls to rest the fury of the sea. (Book
iv., Sec.49.)

* * * * *

"Unhappy me upon whom this misfortune hath fallen!"--nay, rather thou
shouldst say, "Fortunate I, that having met with such a misfortune, I am
able to endure it without complaining; in the present not dismayed, in
the future dreading no evil. Such a misadventure might have befallen a
man who could not, perchance, have endured it without grievous
suffering." Why then shouldst thou