Ch. 13
What solitude is, and what kind of person a solitary
man is.
SOLITUDE is a certain condition of a helpless man. For
because a man is alone, he is not for that reason also soli-
tary; just as though a man is among numbers, he is not
therefore not solitary. When then we have lost either a
brother, or a son or a friend on whom we were accustomed
to repose, we say that we are left solitary, though we are
often in Rome, though such a crowd meet us, though so
many live in the same place, and sometimes we have a
great number of slaves. For the man who is solitary, as
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It is conceived, is considered to be a helpless person and
exposed to those who wish to harm him. For this reason
when we travel, then especially do we say that we are
lonely when we fall among robbers, for it is not the sight
of a human creature which removes us from solitude, but
the sight of one who is faithful and modest and helpful
to us. For if being alone is enough to make solitude, you
may say that even Zeus is solitary in the conflagration500
and bewails himself saying, Unhappy that I am who have
neither Hera, nor Athena, nor Apollo, nor brother, nor son,
nor descendant nor kinsman. This is what some say that
he does when he is alone at the conflagration.501 For they
do not understand how a man passes his life when he is
alone, because they set out from a certain natural principle, from the natural desire of community and mutual
love and from the pleasure of conversation among men.
But none the less a man ought to be prepared in a manner
for this also (being alone), to be able to be sufficient for
himself and to be his own companion. For as Zeus dwells
with himself, and is tranquil by himself, and thinks of his
own administration and of its nature, and is employed in
thoughts suitable to himself; so ought we also to be able
to talk with ourselves, not to feel the want of others also,
not to be unprovided with the means of passing our time;
to observe the divine administration, and the relation of
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ourselves to every thing else; to consider how we for-
merly were affected towards things that happen and how
at present; what are still the things which give us pain;
how these also can be cured and how removed; if any
things require improvement, to improve them according
to reason.
For you see that Caesar appears to furnish us with great
peace, that there are no longer enemies nor battles nor
great associations of robbers nor of 'pirates, but we can
travel at every hour and sail from east to west. But can
Caesar give us security from fever also, can he from ship-
wreck, from fire, from earthquake or from lightning? well,
I will say, can he give us security against love? He cannot.
From sorrow? He cannot. From envy? He cannot. In a
word then he cannot protect us from any of these things.
But the doctrine of philosophers promises to give us
security (peace) even against these things. And what
does it say? Men, if you will attend to me, wherever you
are, whatever you are doing, you will not feel sorrow, nor
anger, nor compulsion, nor hindrance, but you will pass
your time without perturbations and free from every thing.
When a man has this peace, not proclaimed by Caesar, (for
how should he be able to proclaim it?), but by God through
reason, is he not content when he is alone? when he sees
and reflects, Now no evil can happen to me; for me there
is no robber, no earthquake, every thing is full of peace,
full of tranquillity: every way, every city, every meeting,
neighbour, companion is harmless. One person whose
business it is, supplies me with food;502 another with
raiment; another with perceptions, and preconceptions
(προλήψεις). And if he does not supply what is necessary,
he (God) gives the signal for retreat, opens the door, and
says to you, Go. Go whither? To nothing terrible, but to
the place from which you came, to your friends and kins-
men, to the elements:503 what there was in you of fire goes
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to fire; of earth, to earth; of air (spirit), to air; of water
to water: no Hades, nor Acheron, nor Cocytus, nor
Pyriphlegethon, but all is full of Gods and Daemons.
When a man has such things to think on, and sees the sun,
the moon and stars, and enjoys earth and sea, he is not
solitary nor even helpless. Well then, if some man should
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come upon me when I am alone and murder me? Fool, not
murder You, but your poor body.
What kind of solitude then remains? what want? why
do we make ourselves worse than children? and what do
children do when they are left alone? They take up shells
and ashes, and they build something, then pull it down,
and build something else, and so they never want the means
of passing the time. Shall I then, if you sail away, sit
down and weep, because I have been left alone and solitary?
Shall I then have no shells, no ashes? But children do
what they do through want of thought (or deficiency in
knowledge), and we through knowledge are unhappy.
Every great power (faculty) is dangerous to beginners.504
You must then bear such things as you are able, but conformably to nature: but not . . . . Practise sometimes a
way of living like a person out of health that you may at
some time live like a man in health. Abstain from food,
drink water, abstain sometimes altogether from desire, in
order that you may some time desire consistently with
reason; and if consistently with reason, when you have
anything good in you, you will desire well.Not so; but
we wish to live like wise men immediately and to be
useful to menUseful how? what are you doing? have
you been useful to yourself? But, I suppose, you wish to
exhort them? You exhort them!505 You wish to be useful
to them. Show to them in your own example what kind of
men philosophy makes, and don't trifle. When you are
eating, do good to those who eat with you; when you are
drinking, to those who are drinking with you; by yielding
to all, giving way, bearing with them, thus do them good,
and do not spit on them your phlegm (bad humours).
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