BOOK IV. I. 173-II. 1
Palace—a slave none the less; and you will perceive that, as Cleanthes[1] used to say, "Possibly the philosophers say what is contrary to opinion, but assuredly not what is contrary to reason." For you will learn by experience that what they say is true, and that none of these things which are admired and sought after are of any good to those who attain them; while those who have not yet attained them get an impression that, if once these things come to them, they will be possessed of all things good, and then, when they do come, the burning heat is just as bad, there is the same tossing about on the sea, the same sense of surfeit, the same desire for what they do not have. 175For freedom is not acquired by satisfying yourself with what you desire, but by destroying your desire. And that you may learn the truth of all this, as you have toiled for those other things, so also transfer your toil to these; keep vigils for the sake of acquiring a judgement which will make you free, devote yourself to a philosopher instead of to a rich old man, be seen about his doors; it will be no disgrace to be so seen, you will not retire thence empty and without profit, if you approach him in the right fashion. Anyway, try it at least; there is no disgrace in making the attempt.
CHAPTER II
Of social intercourse
To this topic you ought to devote yourself before every other, how, namely, you may avoid ever being so intimately associated with some one of your
- ↑ A somewhat similar remark ascribed to Zeno (Gnomol. Vat., ed. Sternbach, 295) has in the second clause "contrary to law," a much less pointed remark, and true only with important qualifications.
