§4ὥσπερ οὖν ἐν κωμῳδίᾳ τις ἠτυχηκότα φίλον θαρρεῖν καὶ τὴν τύχην ἀμύνεσθαι παρακαλῶν, ἐρομένου
τίνα τρόπον,
ἀποκρίνεται
φιλοσόφως· οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτὴν ἀμυνώμεθα φιλοσοφοῦντες ἀξίως·
Therefore, just as in a comedy someone, encouraging a friend who has met with misfortune to take heart and ward off fortune, when the friend asks "In what way?", answers "Philosophically"; so let us also ward her off by philosophizing in a worthy manner.
"τὸν Δία δὲ πῶς ὕοντα;
"But how against Zeus when he rains?
τὸν βορέαν δὲ πῶς; ʼ"
πῦρ ζητοῦμεν βαλανεῖον ἱμάτιον στέγην· καὶ γὰρ οὐχ ὑόμενοι καθήμεθʼ οὐδὲ κλαίομεν καὶ σοὶ τοίνυν παρʼ ὁντιναοῦν ἔστι τὸ κατεψυγμένον τοῦτο τοῦ βίου μέρος ἀναζωπυρεῖν καὶ ἀναθάλπειν, ἑτέρων βοηθημάτων μὴ δεόμενον ἀλλὰ χρώμενον εὐλογίστως τοῖς παροῦσιν.
And how against the north wind?" We seek fire, a bath, a cloak, a shelter; for indeed we do not sit still under the rain, nor do we weep. And for you, then, more than for anyone else, it is possible to rekindle and warm again this chilled part of your life, not needing other helps, but using with good reason what is present.
αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἰατρικαὶ σικύαι τὸ φαυλότατον ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἀναλαμβάνουσαι κουφίζουσι καὶ σῴζουσι τὸ λοιπόν, οἱ δὲ φιλόλυποι καὶ φιλαίτιοι τῷ τὰ χείριστα τῶν ἰδίων συνάγειν ἀεὶ καὶ διαλογίζεσθαι καὶ προστετηκέναι τοῖς ἀνιαροῖς ἄχρηστα καὶ τὰ χρήσιμα ποιοῦσιν ἑαυτοῖς, ἐν ᾧ μάλιστα καιρῷ βοηθεῖν πέφυκε.
For medical cupping-glasses, by drawing off the worst from the body, relieve and save the rest; but those who are fond of grieving and complaining, by always collecting and debating the worst of their own affairs and clinging to what is painful, make even useful things useless to themselves, in the very season in which they are most naturally suited to help.
τοὺς γὰρ δοιοὺς πίθους, ὦ φίλε, οὓς Ὅμηρος ἔφη κηρῶν ἐμπλείους ἐν οὐρανῷ κεῖσθαι, τὸν μὲν ἀγαθῶν τὸν δὲ φαύλων, οὐχ ὁ Ζεὺς ταμιεύων κάθηται, καὶ μεθιεὶς τοῖς μὲν ἤπια καὶ μεμιγμένα τοῖς δʼ ἄκρατα ῥεύματα τῶν κακῶν·
For those two jars, my friend, which Homer said lie in heaven filled with fates, the one of good things and the other of bad, Zeus does not sit dispensing, sending down to some gentle and mixed streams, and to others unmixed streams of evils.
ἀλλʼ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν οἱ μὲν νοῦν ἔχοντες ἐκ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τοῖς κακοῖς ἐπαρυτόμενοι τὸν βίον ποιοῦσιν ἡδίω καὶ ποτιμώτερον, τοῖς δὲ πολλοῖς ὥσπερ ἠθμοῖς ἐμμένει καὶ προσίσχεται τὰ φαυλότατα, τῶν βελτιόνων ὑπεκρεόντων.
Rather, those of us who have sense make life sweeter and more potable by drawing from the good things to dilute the bad; but for the majority of people, as if in sieves, the worst things remain and stick, while the better things flow away beneath.
§5διὸ κἂν ἀληθῶς κακῷ τινι καὶ λυπηρῷ περιπέσωμεν, ἐπάγεσθαι δεῖ τὸ ἱλαρὸν καὶ τὸ εὔθυμον ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων καὶ ὑπολειπομένων ἀγαθῶν, τῷ οἰκείῳ τἀλλότριον ἐκλεαίνοντας·
Wherefore, even if we truly fall in with something bad and painful, we must bring in what is cheerful and good-tempered from our existing and remaining blessings, smoothing over what is foreign with what is our own.
ὧν δʼ ἡ φύσις οὐδὲν ἔχει κακὸν ἀλλʼ ὅλον καὶ πᾶν τὸ λυποῦν ἐκ κενῆς δόξης ἀναπέπλασται, ταῦτα δεῖ, καθάπερ τοῖς δεδοικόσι τὰ προσωπεῖα παιδίοις ἐγγὺς καὶ ὑπὸ χεῖρα ποιοῦντες καὶ ἀναστρέφοντες ἐθίζομεν καταφρονεῖν, οὕτως ἐγγὺς ἁπτομένους καὶ συνερείδοντας τὸν λογισμὸν τὸ σαθρὸν καὶ τὸ κενὸν καὶ τετραγῳδημένον ἀποκαλύπτειν.
But as for things whose nature has nothing bad, but whose whole and entire power to pain has been fabricated out of empty opinion, these we must treat just as we do with children who are afraid of masks: by bringing them close, putting them in their hands, and turning them over, we accustom them to despise them; so by touching them close at hand and applying our reason to them, we must expose their rottenness, their emptiness, and their tragic exaggerations.
οἷόν ἐστιν ἡ νῦν σοι παροῦσα μετάστασις ἐκ τῆς νομιζομένης; πατρίδος.
Such is your present removal from your reputed homeland.
φύσει γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι πατρίς, ὥσπερ οὐδʼ οἶκος οὐδʼ ἀγρὸς οὐδὲ χαλκεῖον, ὡς Ἀρίστων ἔλεγεν, οὐδʼ ἰατρεῖον· ἀλλὰ γίγνεται μᾶλλον δʼ ὀνομάζεται καὶ καλεῖται τούτων ἕκαστον ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸν οἰκοῦντα καὶ χρώμενον.
For by nature there is no homeland, just as there is no house or field or blacksmith's shop, as Ariston used to say, nor a doctor's office; but each of these becomes, or rather is named and called, always in relation to the one who inhabits and uses it.
ὁ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος, ᾗ φησιν ὁ Πλάτων,
φυτὸν οὐκ ἔγγειον
οὐδʼ ἀκίνητον
ἀλλʼ οὐράνιόν
ἐστιν, ὥσπερ ῥίζης τὸ σῶμα τῆς κεφαλῆς ὀρθὸν ἱστάσης, πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνεστραμμένον.
For man, as Plato says, is not an earthly plant nor an immovable one, but a heavenly one, with his body turned toward heaven, since the head, like a root, keeps it upright.
ὅθεν εὖ μὲν ὁ Ἡρακλῆς εἶπεν
"
Ἀργεῖος ἢ Θηβαῖος· οὐ γὰρ εὔχομαι
μιᾶς· ἅπας μοι πύργος Ἑλλήνων πατρίς. "
ὁ δὲ Σωκράτης βέλτιον, οὐκ Ἀθηναῖος οὐδʼ Ἕλλην ἀλλὰ κόσμιος εἶναι φήσας, ὡς ἄν τις Ῥόδιος εἶπεν ἢ Κορίνθιος· ὅτι μηδὲ Σουνίῳ, μηδὲ Ταινάρῳ μηδὲ τοῖς Κεραυνίοις ἐνέκλεισεν ἑαυτόν.
Wherefore Heracles spoke well when he said: "An Argive or a Theban; for I do not boast of a single city; every fortress of the Greeks is my country." And Socrates did even better, saying that he was not an Athenian nor a Greek, but a citizen of the world, just as someone might say he was a Rhodian or a Corinthian; because he did not shut himself up in Sunium, nor in Taenarum, nor in the Ceraunian mountains.
"
ὁρᾷς τὸν ὑψοῦ τόνδʼ ἄπειρον αἰθέρα,
καὶ γῆν πέριξ ἔχονθʼ ὑγραῖς ἐν ἀγκάλαις; "
οὗτοι τῆς πατρίδος ἡμῶν ὅροι εἰσί, καὶ οὐδεὶς οὔτε φυγὰς ἐν τούτοις οὔτε ξένος οὔτʼ ἀλλοδαπός, ὅπου ταὐτὸ πῦρ ὕδωρ ἀήρ, ἄρχοντες οἱ αὐτοὶ καὶ διοικηταὶ καὶ πρυτάνεις, ἥλιος σελήνη φωσφόρος· οἱ αὐτοὶ νόμοι πᾶσι, ὑφʼ ἑνὸς προστάγματος καὶ μιᾶς ἡγεμονίας τροπαὶ βόρειοι τροπαὶ νότιοι ἰσημερίαι Πλειὰς Ἀρκτοῦρος, ὧραι σπόρων ὧραι φυτειῶν· εἷς δὲ βασιλεὺς; καὶ ἄρχων
θεὸς ἀρχήν τε καὶ μέσα καὶ τελευτὴν ἔχων τοῦ παντός, εὐθείᾳ περαίνει κατὰ φύσιν περιπορευόμενος·
"Do you see this boundless ether on high, holding the earth around in its damp embrace?" These are the boundaries of our homeland, and within these no one is an exile, nor a stranger, nor a foreigner, where there is the same fire, water, air, the same rulers, administrators, and presidents: sun, moon, morning star; the same laws for all, under one command and one leadership: northern solstices, southern solstices, equinoxes, Pleiades, Arcturus, seasons of sowing, seasons of planting; and one king and ruler, God, who holds the beginning, middle, and end of the universe, and accomplishes his path straight, moving according to nature.
τῷ δʼ ἕπεται Δίκη τῶν ἀπολειπομένων τοῦ θείου νόμου τιμωρός,
χρώμεθα πάντες ἄνθρωποι φύσει πρὸς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὥσπερ πολίτας.
And Justice follows him, as the avenger of those who fall short of the divine law; and all of us humans by nature treat all other humans as fellow citizens.