able, secure, uncloying pleasure is enjoyed by the
man now described; a man skilled, so to say, in the laws of gods and men
alike. Such a man enjoys the present without anxiety for the future: for
he who depends upon what is uncertain can rely confidently upon nothing.
Thus he is free from all those great troubles which unhinge the mind,
he neither hopes for, nor covets anything, and engages in no uncertain
adventures, being satisfied with what he has. Do not suppose that he
is satisfied with a little; for everything is his, and that not in the
sense in which all was Alexander's, who, though he reached the shore of
the Red Sea, yet wanted more territory than that through which he
had come. He did not even own those countries which he held or had
conquered, while Onesicritus, whom he had sent on before him to discover
new countries, was wandering about the ocean and engaging in war in
unknown seas. Is it clear that he who pushed his armies beyond the
bounds of the universe, who with reckless greed dashed headlong into a
boundless and unexplored sea, must in reality have been full of wants?
It matters not how many kingdoms he may have seized or given away, or
how great a part of the world may pay him tribute; such a man must be in
need of as much as he desires.

III. This was not the vice of Alexander alone, who followed with a
fortunate audacity in the footsteps of Bacchus and Hercules, but it is
common to all those whose covetousness is whetted rather than appeased
by good fortune. Look at Cyrus and Cambyses and all the royal house of
Persia: can you find one among them who thought his empire large enough,
or was not at the last gasp still aspiring after further conquests? We
need not wonder at this, for whatever is obtained by covetousness is
simply swallowed up and lost, nor does it matter how much is poured
into its insatiable maw. Only the wise man possesses everything
without having to struggle to retain it; he alone does not need to send
ambassadors across the seas, measure out camps upon hostile shores,
place garrisons in commanding forts, or manoeuvre legions and squadrons
of cavalry. Like the immortal gods, who govern their realm without
recourse to arms, and from their serene and lofty heights protect their
own, so the wise man fulfils his duties, however far-reaching they may
be, without disorder, and looks down upon the whole human race, because
he himself is the greatest and most powerful member thereof. You