. . . "Furthermore, it is not at all necessary for exiles to suffer ill repute because of their banishment, since everyone knows that many trials are badly judged and many people are unjustly banished from their country, and that in the past there have been cases of good men who have been exiled by their countrymen, as for example from Athens Aristides the Just and from Ephesus Hermodorus, because of whose banishment Heraclitus bade the Ephesians, every grown man of them, go hang themselves.
"In fact some exiles even became very famous, as Diogenes of Sinope and Clearchus, the Lacedaemonian, who with Cyrus marched against Artaxerxes, not to mention more. How, pray, could this condition in which some people have become more renowned than before be responsible for ill-repute?" . . .
--Musonius Rufus, Fragment 9 (tr Lutz)
We should also not assume that exile must bring with it a loss of reputation. Like wealth and power, for some it may even increase in their new circumstances.
Also like wealth and power, fame is something that is in itself indifferent, and we should never assume that Musonius is measuring the value life by such standards in themselves. Nevertheless, even as we should know that our circumstances are never the measure of a good life, we should never see changes of time and place as burdens. They are always opportunities for virtue, whether Providence gives us fortune or takes it away.
We rightly often tie reputation together with wealth and power, and for good reason. Such external things can be a blessing or a curse, dependent entirely upon our estimation and use of them. I do wonder, however, if reputation is somewhat more fickle than wealth or power. It was always easier to convince myself that money or influence were hardly important, but I have had a harder time not caring whether or not I am liked.
I am usually able to convince myself that my bank account is not the measure of my character, but I will still feel the pull of being respected. Now I don't think I have ever been popular in any context, but it does feel deeply comforting to be respected, hurtful to be frowned upon. I remind myself of two important facts.
First, I should hardly avoid honor, just as I should not avoid wealth or power in themselves, or anything that is indifferent. But I should ask myself not only whether I am liked, but what sort of person is doing the liking. It is hardly to my credit to be respected by a a greedy or dishonest man, but I should take note if I am respected by a just and honest man.
Second, it isn't the respect of others that makes me good, but other good men will recognize me if I am good. I suspect that many famous people of the past were good precisely because they didn't seek honor, and that it turn is exactly the reason decent people ended up honoring them. They say that love comes when you aren't looking for it, and I wonder if the same is true of repute. As soon as I want it, I'm not doing it right.
I found a companion for my life when I began to measure the worth of a person by thoughts and deeds, and not by shallow images. I also found that person at a point when I finally understood that I did not need to be recognized to be whole. Life can be funny like that.
Above all else, be charged with a love of wisdom and a commitment to character. Sometimes this may end up making me poor and scorned, at other times it may make me rich and revered. And if fortune does indeed give me money or fame, let me be certain I am receiving it for the right reasons, and making use of it in the right way.
Written in 8/2013
Image: Domenico Peterlini, Dante in Exile (c. 1860):
No comments:
Post a Comment