joyments of which our natures are capable, I can
not receive more now than I could before. I can not eat any more,
drink any more, or sleep any more, or do any of these things with any
more pleasure than when I was poor. All that I gain by this abundance
is, that I have more to watch, more to guard, more to take care of. I
have many servants, for whose wants I have to provide, and who are a
constant source of solicitude to me. One calls for food, another for
clothes, and a third is sick, and I must see that he has a physician.
My other possessions, too, are a constant care. A man comes in, one
day, and brings me sheep that have been torn by the wolves; and, on
another day, tells me of oxen that have fallen from a precipice, or of
a distemper which has broken out among the flocks or herds. My wealth,
therefore, brings me only an increase of anxiety and trouble, without
any addition to my joys."

"But those things," said the Sacian, "which you name, must be unusual
and extraordinary occurrences. When all things are going on
prosperously and well with you, and you can look around on all your
possessions and feel that they are yours, then certainly you must be
happier than I am."

"It is true," said Pheraulas, "that there is a pleasure in the
possession of wealth, but that pleasure is not great enough to balance
the suffering which the calamities and losses inevitably connected
with it occasion. That the suffering occasioned by losing our
possessions is greater than the pleasure of retaining them, is proved
by the fact that the pain of a loss is so exciting to the mind that it
often deprives men of sleep, while they enjoy the most calm and quiet
repose so long as their possessions are retained, which proves that
the pleasure does not move them so deeply. They are kept awake by the
vexation and chagrin on the one hand, but they are never kept awake by
the satisfaction on the other."

"That is true," replied the Sacian. "Men are not kept awake by the
mere continuing to possess their wealth, but they very often are by
the original acquisition of it."

"Yes, indeed," replied Pheraulas; "and if the enjoyment of _being_
rich could always continue as great as that of first becoming so, the
rich would, I admit, be very happy men; but it is not, and can not be
so. They who possess much, must lose, and expend, and give much; and
this necessity brings more of pain than the possessions themselves can
give of pleasure."

The Saci