38.  If a man has done wrong the harm is his own.  But perhaps he has not done wrong.

39.  Either all things proceed from one intelligent source and come together as in one body, and the part ought not to find fault with what is done for the benefit of the whole; or there are only atoms, and nothing else than mixture and dispersion.  Why, then, art thou disturbed?  Say to the ruling faculty, Art thou dead, art thou corrupted, art thou playing the hypocrite, art thou become a beast, dost thou herd and feed with the rest?[A]

[A] There is some corruption at the end of this section, but I think that the translation expresses the emperor’s meaning.  Whether intelligence rules all things or chance rules, a man must not be disturbed.  He must use the power that he has and be tranquil.

40.  Either the gods have no power or they have power.  If, then, they have no power, why dost thou pray to them?  But if they have power, why dost thou not pray for them to give thee the faculty of not fearing any of the things which thou fearest, or of not desiring any of the things which thou desirest, or not being pained at anything, rather than pray that any of these things should not happen or happen? for certainly if they can co-operate with men, they can co-operate for these purposes.  But perhaps thou wilt say the gods have placed them in thy power.  Well, then, is it not better to use what is in thy power like a free man than to desire in a slavish and abject way what is not in thy power?  And who has told thee that the gods do not aid us, even in the things which are in our power?  Begin, then, to pray for such things, and thou wilt see.  One man prays thus:  How shall I be able to lie with that woman?  Do thou pray thus:  How shall I not desire to lie with her?  Another prays thus:  How shall I be released from this?  Pray thou:  How shall I not desire to be released?  Another thus:  How shall I not lose my little son?  Thou thus:  How shall I not be afraid to lose him?  In fine, turn thy prayers this way, and see what comes.

41.  Epicurus says, In my sickness my conversation was not about my bodily sufferings, nor, says he, did I talk on such subjects to those who visited me; but I continued to discourse on the nature of things as before, keeping to this main point, how the mind, while participating in such movements as go on in the poor flesh, shall be free from perturbations and maintain its proper good.  Nor did I, he says, give the physicians an opportunity of putting on solemn looks, as if they were doing something great, but my life went on well and happily.  Do, then, the same that he did both in sickness, if thou art sick, and in any other circumstances; for never to desert philosophy in any events that may befall us, nor to hold trifling talks either with an ignorant man or with one unacquainted with nature, is a principle of all schools of philosophy; but to be intent only on that which thou art now doing and on the instrument by which thou doest it.