Musonius Rufus, Fragments 34

The treasures of Croesus and Cinyras we shall condemn as the last degree of poverty. One man and one alone shall we consider rich, the man who has acquired the ability to want for nothing always and everywhere.

 

I don’t know of anyone under sixty who exclaims “Rich as Croesus!” anymore, though I suppose someone like Bill Gates now stands in for that role. 

 

I hear some people say wonderful things about Mr. Gates, and I hear other people say terrible things about him, but the fact is that I have little idea about his personal character, since all I can see is a carefully crafted media image. 

 

That in itself is a very telling point, because people of that sort are considered famous and important simply on account of being rich, having received power and influence through Fortune’s toss. Are there many other people out there who might be wiser or kinder? It is likely that there are, and yet they are not thought to be great. 

 

If I take my blinders off to look at this without all the layers of social custom, such a state of affairs should appear to be quite ridiculous. 

 

I follow the herd in admiring a fellow on account of the things around him, and I pay no attention to what is actually in his soul. I judge him by his circumstances, somehow convinced that he made all of it for himself, when I really know that we all have very little say in what is going to happen to us. 

 

I would be better served by looking for wealth on the inside, not on the outside. Who is the man who is truly rich? Not the one who defines himself by how much property or praise comes his way, but the one who is completely content with absolutely anything that comes his way. 

 

A spiritual prosperity rests in self-sufficiency, in never demanding any more than I already have, any more than I am in the merit my own thoughts and deeds.

IMAGE: Frans Francken the Younger, Croesus Showing his Treasures to Solon (c. 1620)