uch is death, a greater change, not from the state which now is to that
which is not, but to that which is not now. Shall I then no longer
exist? You will not exist, but you will be something else, of which the
world now has need; for you also came into existence not when you chose,
but when the world had need of you.

Let these thoughts be ready to hand by night and by day; these you
should write, these you should read; about these you should talk to
yourself and to others. Ask a man: Can you help me at all for this
purpose? and further, go to another and to another. Then if anything
that is said be contrary to your wish, this reflection first will
immediately relieve you, that it is not unexpected. For it is a great
thing in all cases to say: I knew that I begot a son who is mortal. For
so you also will say: I knew that I am mortal, I knew that I may leave
my home, I knew that I may be ejected from it, I knew that I may be led
to prison. Then if you turn round and look to yourself, and seek the
place from which comes that which has happened, you will forthwith
recollect that it comes from the place of things which are out of the
power of the will, and of things which are not my own. What then is it
to me? Then, you will ask, and this is the chief thing: And who is it
that sent it? The leader, or the general, the state, the law of the
state. Give it me then, for I must always obey the law in everything.
Then, when the appearance (of things) pains you, for it is not in your
power to prevent this, contend against it by the aid of reason, conquer
it: do not allow it to gain strength nor to lead you to the consequences
by raising images such as it pleases and as it pleases. If you be in
Gyara, do not imagine the mode of living at Rome, and how many pleasures
there were for him who lived there and how many there would be for him
who returned to Rome; but fix your mind on this matter, how a man who
lives in Gyara ought to live in Gyara like a man of courage. And if you
be in Rome, do not imagine what the life in Athens is, but think only of
the life in Rome.

Then in the place of all other delights substitute this, that of being
conscious that you are obeying God, that not in word, but in deed you
are performing the acts of a wise and good man. For what a thing it is
for a man to be able to say to himself: Now whatever the rest may say in
solemn manner in the schools and may be judged to be saying in a way
contrary to commo