“Desire nothing too much.  If you are going to the public baths and are annoyed or hindered by the rudeness, the pushing, the abuse, the thievish propensities of others, do not lose your temper:  remind yourself that it is more important that you should keep your will in harmony with nature than that you should bathe.  And so with all troubles; men suffer far less from the things themselves than from the opinions they have of them.”

“If you cannot frame your circumstances in accordance with your wishes, frame your will into harmony with your circumstances.[64] When you lose the best gifts of life, consider them as not lost but only resigned to Him who gave them.  You have a remedy in your own heart against all trials—­continence as a bulwark against passion, patience against opposition, fortitude against pain.  Begin with trifles:  if you are robbed, remind yourself that your peace of mind is of more value and importance than the thing which has been stolen from you.  Follow the guidance of nature; that is the great thing; regret nothing, desire nothing, which can disturb that end.  Behave as at a banquet—­take with gratitude and in moderation what is set before you, and seek for nothing more; a higher and diviner step will be to be ready and able to forego even that which is given you, or which you might easily obtain.  Sympathise with others, at least externally, when they are in sorrow and misfortune; but remember in your own heart that to the brave and wise and true there is really no such thing as misfortune; it is but an ugly semblance; the croak of the raven can portend no harm to such a man, he is elevated above its power.”

[Footnote 64:  “When what thou willest befalls not, thou then must will what befalleth.”]

“We do not choose our own parts in life, and have nothing to do with those parts; our simple duty is confined to playing them well.  The slave may be as free as the consul; and freedom is the chief of blessings; it dwarfs all others; beside it all others are insignificant, with it all others become needless, without it no others are possible.  No one can insult you if you will not regard his words or deeds as insults.[65] Keep your eye steadily fixed on the great reality of death, and all other things will shrink to their true proportions.  As in a voyage, when a ship has come to anchor, if you have gone out to find water, you may amuse yourself with picking up a little shell or bulb, but you must keep your attention steadily fixed upon the ship, in case the captain should call, and then you must leave all such things lest you should be flung on board, bound like sheep.  So in life; if, instead of a little shell or bulb, some wifeling or childling be granted you, well and good; but, if the captain call, run to the ship and leave such possessions behind you, not looking back.  But if you be an old man, take care not to go a long distance from the ship at all, lest you should be called and come too late.”  The metaphor is a significant one, and perhaps the following lines of Sir Walter Scott, prefixed anonymously to one of the chapters of the Waverley Novels, may help to throw light upon it: