Be
like the promontory against which the waves continually break, but it
stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.
Unhappy
am I because this has happened to me.- Not so, but happy am I, though
this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither
crushed by the present nor fearing the future. For such a thing as
this might have happened to every man; but every man would not have
continued free from pain on such an occasion. Why then is that rather
a misfortune than this a good fortune? And dost thou in all cases
call that a man's misfortune, which is not a deviation from man's
nature? And does a thing seem to thee to be a deviation from man's
nature, when it is not contrary to the will of man's nature? Well,
thou knowest the will of nature. Will then this which has happened
prevent thee from being just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, secure
against inconsiderate opinions and falsehood; will it prevent thee
from having modesty, freedom, and everything else, by the presence of
which man's nature obtains all that is its own? Remember too on every
occasion which leads thee to vexation to apply this principle: not
that this is a misfortune, but that to bear it nobly is good fortune.
(podcast episode) (original Greek part 1, part 2)
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