§18τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἀνόητον ὁ τοῦ θανάτου φόβος οὐχ ὁ τοῦ ζῆν πόθος ἐκκρέμασθαι τοῦ σώματος ποιεῖ, περιπεπλεγμένον ὥσπερ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα τῷ ἐρινεῷ δεδοικότα τὴν Χάρυβδιν ὑποκειμένην
"ἔνθʼ οὔτε μίμνειν ἄνεμος οὔτε πλεῖν ἐᾷ,"
καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα δυσαρέστως καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνα περιδεῶς ἔχοντα.
For as for the foolish man, it is the fear of death, not the desire for life, that makes him cling to the body, entangled like Odysseus in the wild fig tree, fearing Charybdis lying below, 'where the wind permits neither to remain nor to sail,' and having discontent toward the former and extreme fear toward the latter.
ὁ δὲ τὴν τῆς, ψυχῆς φύσιν ἁμωσγέπως ὑπονοῶν καὶ τὴν εἰς τὸ βέλτιον αὐτῆς ἢ μηθὲν κάκιον ἐν τῇ τελευτῇ μεταβολὴν ἐπιλογιζόμενος, οὐ μικρὸν ἔχει τῆς πρὸς τὸν βίον εὐθυμίας ἐφόδιον τὴν πρὸς τὸν θάνατον ἀφοβίαν.
But he who somehow understands the nature of the soul and considers its change at death into something better, or at least nothing worse, possesses no small provision for tranquility toward life in his fearlessness toward death.
ᾧ γὰρ ἔξεστι τῆς μὲν ἀρεστῆς καὶ οἰκείας μερίδος ἐπικρατούσης ἡδέως ζῆν, τῶν δʼ ἀλλοτρίων καὶ παρὰ φύσιν ὑπερβαλλόντων ἀδεῶς ἀπελθεῖν εἰπόντα
"λύσει μʼ ὁ δαίμων αὐτός, ὅταν ἐγὼ θέλω· "
τί ἂν τούτῳ χαλεπὸν ἢ δύσκολον ἢ ταραχῶδες ἐμπίπτον ἐπινοήσαιμεν;
For he who is permitted, while his desirable and proper part prevails, to live pleasantly, and, when alien and contrary to nature things exceed, to depart without fear, saying, 'The god himself will release me, when I wish' —what hard or difficult or turbulent thing could we imagine falling upon such a man?
ὁ γὰρ εἰπών
προκατείλημμαὶ σʼ, ὦ τύχη, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν σὴν ἀφῄρημαι παρείσδυσιν
οὐ μοχλοῖς οὐδὲ κλεισὶν οὐδὲ τείχεσιν ἐθάρρυνεν ἑαυτόν, ἀλλὰ δόγμασι καὶ λόγοις ὧν πᾶσι μέτεστι τοῖς βουλομένοις.
For he who said, 'I have forestalled you, O Fortune, and have cut off all your entrance,' did not fortify himself with bars or keys or walls, but with doctrines and reasons in which all have a share who wish.
καὶ δεῖ μηδὲν ἀπογιγνώσκειν μηδʼ ἀπιστεῖν τῶν οὕτω λεγομένων, ἀλλὰ θαυμάζοντα καὶ ζηλοῦντα καὶ συνενθουσιῶντα πεῖραν ἅμα. λαμβάνειν ἑαυτοῦ καὶ κατανόησιν ἐν τοῖς ἐλάττοσι πρὸς τὰ μείζονα, μὴ φεύγοντα μηδʼ ἀπωθοῦντα τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν αὐτῶν μηδὲ διαδιδράσκοντʼ εἰς τὸ
τάχα δʼ οὐδὲν ἔσται δυσχερέστερον. · ἀτονίαν, γὰρ ἐμποιεῖ καὶ μαλακίαν ἀγύμναστον ἡ περὶ τὸ ῥᾷστον ἀεὶ διατρίβουσα καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἥδιστον ἐκ τῶν ἀβουλήτων ἀναχωροῦσα γλυκυθυμία τῆς ψυχῆς.
And we must not despair of or disbelieve anything of what is thus said, but, while admiring and emulating and sharing the enthusiasm, at the same time take trial and understanding of ourselves in smaller things for the greater ones, not fleeing from or thrusting away from the soul the care of them, nor running away to the thought that 'perhaps nothing will be more difficult.' For the soft-heartedness of the soul, which always dwells on the easiest and retreats to the most pleasant from unwanted things, produces slackness and unexercised weakness.
ἡ δὲ καὶ νόσου καὶ πόνου καὶ φυγῆς μελετῶσα φαντασίαν ὑφίστασθαι καὶ προσβιαζομένη τῷ λογισμῷ πρὸς ἕκαστον εὑρήσει πολὺ τὸ κατεψευσμένον καὶ διάκενον καὶ σαθρὸν ἐν τοῖς δοκοῦσι χαλεποῖς καὶ φοβεροῖς, ὡς ὁ καθʼ ἕκαστον ἀποδείκνυσι λόγος.
But the soul that practices enduring the mental image of disease, pain, and exile, and forces itself by reason against each of them, will find much that is false, empty, and rotten in those things that seem difficult and fearful, as individual reason demonstrates.
§19καίτοι πολλοὶ καὶ τὸ τοῦ Μενάνδρου πεφρίκασιν
"οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ζῶντα
τοῦτʼ οὐ πείσομαι
,"
ἀγνοοῦντες ὅσον ἐστὶ πρὸς ἀλυπίαν ἀγαθὸν τὸ μελετᾶν καὶ δύνασθαι πρὸς τὴν τύχην ἀνεῳγόσι τοῖς ὄμμασιν ἀντιβλέπειν, καὶ μὴ ποιεῖν ἐν αὑτῷ τὰς φαντασίας ἀτρίπτους καὶ ἁπαλὰς ὥσπερ ἐνσκιατραφούμενον πολλαῖς ἐλπίσιν ὑπεικούσαις ἀεὶ καὶ πρὸς μηδὲν ἀντιτεινούσαις.
And yet many people also shudder at that saying of Menander: 'It is not possible for a living man to say, "I shall not suffer this,"' ignorant of how great a good it is for freedom from grief to practice and to be able to look face to face at Fortune with open eyes, and not to make the mental images within oneself unexercised and soft, like one brought up in the shade on many hopes that always yield and never resist anything.
ἐκεῖνο μέντοι καὶ πρὸς τὸν Μένανδρον ἔχομεν εἰπεῖν
"οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ζῶντα τοῦτʼ οὐ πείσομαι,"
ἀλλʼ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ζῶντα
τοῦτʼ οὐ ποιήσω, οὐ ψεύσομαι, οὐ ῥᾳδιουργήσω, οὐκ ἀποστερήσω, οὐκ ἐπιβουλεύσω
τοῦτο γὰρ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν κείμενον οὐ μικρὸν ἀλλὰ μέγα πρὸς εὐθυμίαν πάρεστιν.
Yet we can indeed say this in reply to Menander: 'It is not possible for a living man to say, "I shall not suffer this,"' but it is possible for a living man to say, 'I shall not do this, I shall not lie, I shall not act deceitfully, I shall not defraud, I shall not conspire.' For this, lying within our power, is present as no small but great help toward tranquility.
ὥσπερ αὖ τοὐναντίον
"ἡ σύνεσις, ὅτι σύνοιδα δείνʼ εἰργασμένος,"
οἷον ἕλκος ἐν σαρκὶ τῇ ψυχῇ τὴν μεταμέλειαν αἱμάσσουσαν ἀεὶ καὶ νύσσουσαν ἐναπολείπει.
Just as, on the contrary, 'Conscience, because I am conscious of having done terrible things,' leaves remorse in the soul like a wound in the flesh, always bleeding and stinging.
τὰς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλας ἀναιρεῖ λύπας ὁ λόγος, τὴν δὲ μετάνοιαν αὐτὸς ἐνεργάζεται δακνομένης σὺν αἰσχύνῃ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ κολαζομένης ὑφʼ αὑτῆς, ὡς γὰρ οἱ ῥιγοῦντες ἠπιάλοις καὶ πυρετοῖς διακαόμενοι τῶν ταῦτα πασχόντων ἔξωθεν ὑπὸ καύματος ἢ κρύους;
For reason removes other griefs, but it produces repentance itself, with the soul being bitten with shame and punished by itself.
μᾶλλον ἐνοχλοῦνται καὶ κάκιον ἔχουσιν, οὕτως ἐλαφροτέρας ἔχει τὰ τυχηρὰ τὰς λύπας ὥσπερ ἔξωθεν ἐπιφερομένας·
For as those who shiver with ague and are burned with fevers are more troubled and are in worse condition than those who suffer these things from external heat or cold, so things of fortune have lighter griefs, as if being brought from without.
τὸ δὲ
"οὔ τις ἐμοὶ τῶν ἄλλος ἐπαίτιος, ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ αὐτός"
ἐπιθρηνούμενον τοῖς ἁμαρτανομένοις ἔνδοθεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ, βαρύτερον ποιεῖ τῷ αἰσχρῷ τὸ ἀλγεινόν.
But that saying, 'No one else is to blame for me, but I myself,' lamented over one's own errors from within oneself, makes the painful thing heavier by the shame.
ὅθεν οὔτε οἰκία πολυτελὴς οὔτε χρυσίου πλῆθος οὔτʼ ἀξίωμα γένους οὔτε μέγεθος ἀρχῆς οὐ λόγου χάρις οὐ δεινότης εὐδίαν παρέχει βίῳ καὶ γαλήνην τοσαύτην, ὅσην ψυχὴ καθαρεύουσα πραγμάτων καὶ βουλευμάτων πονηρῶν καὶ τὴν τοῦ βίου πηγὴν τὸ ἦθος ἀτάραχον ἔχουσα καὶ ἀμίαντον· ἀφʼ ἧς αἱ καλαὶ πράξεις ῥέουσαι καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν ἐνθουσιώδη καὶ ἱλαρὰν μετὰ τοῦ μέγα φρονεῖν ἔχουσι καὶ τὴν μνήμην ἡδίονα καὶ βεβαιοτέραν τῆς Πινδαρικῆς γηροτρόφου ἐλπίδος. οὐ γάρ
αἱ μὲν λιβανωτρίδες
ὡς ἔλεγε Καρνεάδης
κἂν ἀποκενωθῶσι, τὴν εὐωδίαν ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἀναφέρουσιν
ἐν δὲ τῇ ψυχῇ τοῦ νοῦν ἔχοντος; αἱ καλαὶ πράξεις οὐκ ἀεὶ κεχαρισμένην καὶ πρόσφατον ἐναπολείπουσι τὴν ἐπίνοιαν, ὑφʼ ἧς τὸ χαῖρον ἄρδεται καὶ τέθηλε καὶ καταφρονεῖ τῶν ὀδυρομένων καὶ λοιδορούντων τὸν βίον, ὥς τινα κακῶν χώραν ἢ φυγαδικὸν τόπον ἐνταῦθα ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἀποδεδειγμένον.
Hence neither a sumptuous house nor abundance of gold nor dignity of birth nor greatness of office nor grace of speech nor cleverness provides so great a calm and quiet to life as a soul pure from evil deeds and designs, keeping its character, the fountain of life, undisturbed and undefiled; from which noble actions flowing make their activity inspired and cheerful along with high-mindedness, and their memory more pleasant and secure than Pindar's 'hope that nurtures old age.' For it is not as Carneades used to say, that 'incense burners, even if they are emptied, retain their sweet scent for a long time,' but in the soul of the wise man noble actions always leave a pleasing and fresh remembrance, by which joy is watered and flourishes, and despises those who lament and abuse life as if it were some region of evils or a place of exile appointed here for souls.