Letter 44

[1] Once again you make yourself out to be a person of no account, and you say that nature dealt with you grudgingly at first, and then Fortune did the same—when in fact you have it in your power to lift yourself out of the common herd and rise up to the greatest happiness available to human beings. If philosophy has any good in it at all, it is this: that it does not scrutinize family trees. All people, if they are traced back to their first origin, descend from the gods. [2] You are a Roman knight, and it was your own industry that brought you into this rank; yet, by Hercules, to many the fourteen rows are closed [the seating in the theater reserved for the equestrian order], not everyone is admitted to the senate-house, and the army too is fastidious in selecting those it takes on for toil and danger. But a sound mind lies open to all; in this respect we are all of us noble. Philosophy rejects no one and chooses no one: it shines upon everyone. [3] Socrates was no patrician; Cleanthes [the Stoic philosopher] drew water and hired out his hands to water a garden; philosophy did not receive Plato already a nobleman, but made him one. Why is there any reason for you to despair of being able to become the equal of these men? They are all your ancestors, if you conduct yourself as worthy of them; and you will do so if you first persuade yourself of this: that you are surpassed by no one in nobility. [4] We all of us have just as many forebears before us; no one's origin does not lie back beyond the reach of memory. Plato says that there is no king who is not descended from slaves, and no slave who is not descended from kings. A long succession of changes has jumbled all these things together, and Fortune has turned them upside down. [5] Who is well-born? The man well constituted by nature for virtue. This alone is what must be looked at; otherwise, if you call back the ancient past, no one fails to come from a point before which there is nothing. From the first beginning of the world right up to this present moment, a chain alternating between the splendid and the squalid has led us down. An entrance hall full of smoke-blackened ancestral busts does not make a man noble; no one has lived to lend us glory, and what existed before us is not ours: it is the mind that makes a man noble, and from whatever condition it springs, the mind is free to rise above Fortune. [6] So suppose that you are not a Roman knight but a freedman: you can still achieve this, that you alone are free among the freeborn. "How?" you ask. If you do not let the crowd be the arbiter of what is good and bad for you. You must look, not at where things come from, but at where they are heading. If there is anything that can make life happy, it is good in its own right; for it cannot be corrupted into something bad. [7] What, then, is the point on which men go astray, since everyone longs for the happy life? It is that they take the instruments of that life for the life itself, and while they seek it, they flee from it. For although the sum of the happy life is solid security and an unshaken confidence in that security, men instead gather up the causes of anxiety, and along the treacherous road of life they not only carry their baggage but drag it along; thus they always move farther away from achieving the very thing they seek, and the more effort they pour in, the more they entangle themselves and are carried backward. The same thing happens to people hurrying through a labyrinth: their very speed traps them. Farewell.

You are again insisting to me that you are a nobody, and saying that nature in the first place, and fortune in the second, have treated you too scurvily, and this in spite of the fact that you have it in your power to separate yourself from the crowd and rise to the highest human happiness! If there is any good in philosophy, it is this,—that it never looks into pedigrees. All men, if traced back to their original source, spring from the gods. You are a Roman knight, and your persistent work promoted you to this class; yet surely there are many to whom the fourteen rows are barred; the senate-chamber is not open to all; the army, too, is scrupulous in choosing those whom it admits to toil and danger. But a noble mind is free to all men; according to this test, we may all gain distinction. Philosophy neither rejects nor selects anyone; its light shines for all. Socrates was no aristocrat. Cleanthes worked at a well and served as a hired man watering a garden. Philosophy did not find Plato already a nobleman; it made him one. Why then should you despair of becoming able to rank with men like these? They are all your ancestors, if you conduct yourself in a manner worthy of them; and you will do so if you convince yourself at the outset that no man outdoes you in real nobility. We have all had the same number of forefathers; there is no man whose first beginning does not transcend memory. Plato says: “Every king springs from a race of slaves, and every slave has had kings among his ancestors.” The flight of time, with its vicissitudes, has jumbled all such things together, and Fortune has turned them upside down. Then who is well-born? He who is by nature well fitted for virtue. That is the one point to be considered; otherwise, if you hark back to antiquity, every one traces back to a date before which there is nothing. From the earliest beginnings of the universe to the present time, we have been led forward out of origins that were alternately illustrious and ignoble. A hall full of smoke-begrimed busts does not make the nobleman. No past life has been lived to lend us glory, and that which has existed before us is not ours; the soul alone renders us noble, and it may rise superior to Fortune out of any earlier condition, no matter what that condition has been. Suppose, then, that you were not a Roman knight, but a freedman, you might nevertheless by your own efforts come to be the only free man amid a throng of gentlemen. “How?” you ask. Simply by distinguishing between good and bad things without patterning your opinion from the populace. You should look, not to the source from which these things come, but to the goal towards which they tend. If there is anything that can make life happy, it is good on its own merits; for it cannot degenerate into evil. Where, then, lies the mistake, since all men crave the happy life? It is that they regard the means for producing happiness as happiness itself, and, while seeking happiness, they are really fleeing from it. For although the sum and substance of the happy life is unalloyed freedom from care, and though the secret of such freedom is unshaken confidence, yet men gather together that which causes worry, and, while travelling life’s treacherous road, not only have burdens to bear, but even draw burdens to themselves; hence they recede farther and farther from the achievement of that which they seek, and the more effort they expend, the more they hinder themselves and are set back. This is what happens when you hurry through a maze; the faster you go, the worse you are entangled. Farewell.

[1] Iterum tu mihi te pusillum facis et dicis malignius tecum egisse naturam prius, deinde fortunam, cum possis eximere te vulgo et ad felicitatem hominum maximam emergere. Si quid est aliud in philosophia boni, hoc est, quod stemma non inspicit; omnes, si ad originem primam revocantur, a dis sunt. [2] Eques Romanus es, et ad hunc ordinem tua te perduxit industria; at mehercules multis quattuordecim clausa sunt, non omnes curia admittit, castra quoque quos ad laborem et periculum recipiant fastidiose legunt: bona mens omnibus patet, omnes ad hoc sumus nobiles. Nec reicit quemquam philosophia nec eligit: omnibus lucet. [3] Patricius Socrates non fuit; Cleanthes aquam traxit et rigando horto locavit manus; Platonem non accepit nobilem philosophia sed fecit: quid est quare desperes his te posse fieri parem? Omnes hi maiores tui sunt, si te illis geris dignum; geres autem, si hoc protinus tibi ipse persuaseris, a nullo te nobilitate superari. [4] Omnibus nobis totidem ante nos sunt; nullius non origo ultra memoriam iacet. Platon ait neminem regem non ex servis esse oriundum, neminem non servum ex regibus. Omnia ista longa varietas miscuit et sursum deorsum fortuna versavit. [5] Quis est generosus? ad virtutem bene a natura compositus. Hoc unum intuendum est: alioquin si ad vetera revocas, nemo non inde est ante quod nihil est. A primo mundi ortu usque in hoc tempus perduxit nos ex splendidis sordidisque alternata series. Non facit nobilem atrium plenum fumosis imaginibus; nemo in nostram gloriam vixit nec quod ante nos fuit nostrum est: animus facit nobilem, cui ex quacumque condicione supra fortunam licet surgere. [6] Puta itaque te non equitem Romanum esse sed libertinum: potes hoc consequi, ut solus sis liber inter ingenuos. 'Quomodo?' inquis. Si mala bonaque non populo auctore distineris. Intuendum est non unde veniant, sed quo eant. Si quid est quod vitam beatam potest facere, id bonum est suo iure; depravari enim in malum non potest. [7] Quid est ergo in quo erratur, cum omnes beatam vitam optent? quod instrumenta eius pro ipsa habent et illam dum petunt fugiunt. Nam cum summa vitae beatae sit solida securitas et eius inconcussa fiducia, sollicitudinis colligunt causas et per insidiosum iter vitae non tantum ferunt sarcinas sed trahunt; ita longius ab effectu eius quod petunt semper abscedunt et quo plus operae impenderunt, hoc se magis impediunt et feruntur retro. Quod evenit in labyrintho properantibus: ipsa illos velocitas implicat. Vale.