each gaining from that which it gives. The striving intellect may well
know happiness beyond the reach of the satisfied body; but the soul
that grows nobler has joys that are often denied to the striving
intellect. These two will often unite and labour together at building
the house within. But still it will happen at times that both work
apart, and widely different then are the structures each will erect.
And were this to be so, and the being I loved best of all in the world
came and asked me which he should choose--which refuge I held to be
most unattackable, sweetest, profoundest--I would surely advise him to
shelter his destiny in the refuge of the soul that grows nobler.

38. Is the sage never to suffer? Shall no storm ever break on the roof
of his dwelling, no traps be laid to ensnare him? Shall wife and
friends never fail him? Must his father not die, and his mother, his
brothers, his sons--must all these not die like the rest? Shall angels
stand guard at each highway through which sorrow can pass into man? Did
not Christ Himself weep as He stood before Lazarus' tomb? Had not
Marcus Aurelius to suffer--from Commodus, the son who already showed
signs of the monster he was to become; from Faustina, the wife whom he
loved, but who cared not for him? Was not destiny's hand laid heavy on
Paulus Aemilius, who was fully as wise as Timoleon? did not both his
sons die, one five days before his triumph in Rome, and the other but
three days after? What becomes of the refuge, then, where wisdom keeps
watch over happiness? Must we take back all we have said? and is wisdom
yet one more illusion, by whose aid the soul would fain conciliate
reason, and justify cravings that experience is sure to reject as being
opposed to reason?

39. Nay, In truth, the sage too must suffer. He suffers; and suffering
forms a constituent part of his wisdom. He will suffer, perhaps, more
than most men, for that his nature is far more complete. And being
nearer to all mankind, as the wise ever must be, his suffering will be
but the greater, for the sorrows of others are his. He will suffer in
his flesh, in his heart, in his spirit; for there are sides in all
these that no wisdom on earth can dispute against destiny. And so he
accepts his suffering, but is not discouraged thereby; not for him are
the chains that it fastens on those who cringe down before it, unaware
that it is but a messenger sent by a mightier personage, whom a bend in
the road