id, has
detached itself from the persuasions of sense, and has submitted itself
to the gods, and cares for mankind; if thou findest everything else
smaller and of less value than this, give place to nothing else, for if
thou dost once diverge and incline to it, thou wilt no longer without
distraction be able to give the preference to that good thing which is
thy proper possession and thy own; for it is not right that anything of
any other kind, such as praise from the many, or power, or enjoyment of
pleasure, should come into competition with that which is rationally and
politically [or, practically] good. All these things, even though they
may seem to adapt themselves [to the better things] in a small degree,
obtain the superiority all at once, and carry us away. But do thou, I
say, simply and freely choose the better, and hold to it.--But that
which is useful is the better.--Well, then, if it is useful to thee as a
rational being, keep to it; but if it is only useful to thee as an
animal, say so, and maintain thy judgment without arrogance: only take
care that thou makest the inquiry by a sure method.

7. Never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall compel thee
to break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect, to hate any man, to
suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything which needs
walls and curtains: for he who has preferred to everything else his own
intelligence and daemon and the worship of its excellence, acts no
tragic part, does not groan, will not need either solitude or much
company; and, what is chief of all, he will live without either pursuing
or flying from [death];[A] but whether for a longer or a shorter time he
shall have the soul enclosed in the body, he cares not at all: for even
if he must depart immediately, he will go as readily as if he were going
to do anything else which can be done with decency and order; taking
care of this only all through life, that his thoughts turn not away from
anything which belongs to an intelligent animal and a member of a civil
community.

[A] Comp. ix. 3.

8. In the mind of one who is chastened and purified thou wilt find no
corrupt matter, nor impurity, nor any sore skinned over. Nor is his life
incomplete when fate overtakes him, as one may say of an actor who
leaves the stage before ending and finishing the play. Besides, there is
in him nothing servile, nor affected, nor too closely bound [to other
things], nor yet detached[A