stance which has been assigned to thee, so be
content with the time.

50. Let us try to persuade them [men]. But act even against their will,
when the principles of justice lead that way. If however any man by
using force stands in thy way, betake thyself to contentment and
tranquillity, and at the same time employ the hindrance towards the
exercise of some other virtue; and remember that thy attempt was with a
reservation [conditionally], that thou didst not desire to do
impossibilities. What then didst thou desire?--Some such effort as
this.--But thou attainest thy object, if the things to which thou wast
moved are [not] accomplished. +

51. He who loves fame considers another man's activity to be his own
good; and he who loves pleasure, his own sensations; but he who has
understanding considers his own acts to be his own good.

52. It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and not to be
disturbed in our soul; for things themselves have no natural power to
form our judgments.

53. Accustom thyself to attend carefully to what is said by another, and
as much as it is possible, be in the speaker's mind.

54. That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the
bee.

55. If sailors abused the helmsman, or the sick the doctor, would they
listen to anybody else? or how could the helmsman secure the safety of
those in the ship, or the doctor the health of those whom he attends?

56. How many together with whom I came into the world are already gone
out of it.

57. To the jaundiced honey tastes bitter, and to those bitten by mad
dogs water causes fear; and to little children the ball is a fine thing.
Why then am I angry? Dost thou think that a false opinion has less power
than the bile in the jaundiced or the poison in him who is bitten by a
mad dog?

58. No man will hinder thee from living according to the reason of thy
own nature: nothing will happen to thee contrary to the reason of the
universal nature.

59. What kind of people are those whom men wish to please, and for what
objects, and by what kind of acts? How soon will time cover all things,
and how many it has covered already.

VII.

What is badness? It is that which thou hast often seen. And on the
occasion of everything which happens keep this in mind, that it is that
which thou hast often seen. Everywhere up and down thou wilt find the
same things, with which the old histories are filled, those of the
middle ages and