remains for me? I have leisure, I am tranquil: let us see how we must deal with sophistical arguments;[1] let us see how when a man has accepted an hypothesis he shall not be led away to any thing absurd." To them such things belong. To those who are happy it is appropriate to light a fire, to dine; if they choose, both to sing and to dance. But when the vessel is sinking, you come to me and hoist the sails.[2]
CHAPTER III.
what is the matter on which a good man should be employed, and in what we ought chiefly to practise ourselves.
The material for the wise and good man is his own ruling faculty and the body is the material for the physician and the aliptes (the man who oils persons); the land is the matter for the husbandman. The business of the wise and good man is to use appearances conformably to nature: and as it is the nature of every soul to assent to the truth, to dissent from the false, and to remain in suspense as to that which is uncertain; so it is its nature to be moved towards the desire of the good, and to aversion from the evil; and with respect to that which is neither good nor bad it feels indifferent. For as the money-changer (banker) is not allowed to reject Caesar's coin, nor the seller of herbs, but if you show the coin, whether he chooses or not, he must give up what is sold for the coin; so it is also in the matter of the soul. When the good appears, it immediately
- ↑ See this chapter above.
- ↑ τοὺς σιφάρους. On this reading the student may consult the note in Schweighaeuser's edition. The word σιφάρους, if it is the right reading, is not clear; nor the meaning of this conclusion.
The philosopher is represented as being full of anxiety about things which do not concern him, and which are proper subjects for those only who are free from disturbing passions and are quite happy, which is not the philosopher's condition. He is compared to a sinking ship, and at this very time he is supposed to be employed in the useless labour of hoisting the sails.
