§7.68.1Ἀβιάστως διαζῆσαι ἐν πλείστῃ θυμηδίᾳ, κἂν πάντες καταβοῶσιν ἅτινα βούλονται, κἂν τὰ θηρία διασπᾷ τὰ μελύδρια τοῦ περιτεθραμμένου τούτου φυράματος.
To live out one's life free from all compulsion in the greatest cheerfulness of heart, even if all cry out against you whatever they will, and even if wild beasts tear limb from limb this pocket of flesh that has grown fat around you.
τί γὰρ κωλύει ἐν πᾶσι τούτοις τὴν διάνοιαν σῴζειν ἑαυτὴν ἐν γαλήνῃ καὶ κρίσει περὶ τῶν περιεστηκότων ἀληθεῖ καὶ χρήσει τῶν ὑποβεβλημένων ἑτοίμῃ, ὥστε τὴν μὲν κρίσιν λέγειν τῷ προσπίπτοντι· τοῦτο ὑπάρχεις κατ’ οὐσίαν, κἂν κατὰ δόξαν ἀλλοῖον φαίνῃ· τὴν δὲ χρῆσιν λέγειν τῷ ὑποπίπτοντι· σὲ ἐζήτουν· ἀεὶ γάρ μοι τὸ παρὸν ὕλη ἀρετῆς λογικῆς καὶ πολιτικῆς καὶ τὸ σύνολον τέχνης ἀνθρώπου ἢ θεοῦ·
For what prevents the mind, in the midst of all this, from keeping itself in tranquility, in true judgment about the things surrounding it, and in the ready use of the things submitted to it, so that the judgment says to that which falls upon it: "This is what you are in essence, even if you seem otherwise according to opinion"; and the use says to that which lies before it: "You are what I was seeking; for whatever is present is always to me material for rational and social virtue, and in short, for the art of man or of God.
πᾶν γὰρ τὸ συμβαῖνον θεῷ ἢ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐξοικειοῦται καὶ οὔτε καινὸν οὔτε δυσμεταχείριστον, ἀλλὰ γνώριμον καὶ εὐεργές.
For everything that happens is familiar to God or to man, and is neither strange nor hard to handle, but familiar and easy to work with."