Time and Fortune

Frans Francken the Younger, Time and Fortune Dominating the World (c. 1630)

Stoic Snippets 73

Think of the Universal Substance, of which you have a very small portion; and of Universal Time, of which a short and indivisible interval has been assigned to you; and of that which is fixed by Destiny, and how small a part of it you are.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.24

Epictetus, Golden Sayings 138

"How do you understand attach himself to God?"

That what God wills, he should will also; that what God wills not, neither should he will.

"How then may this come to pass?"

By considering the movements of God, and His administration.

Seneca, Moral Letters 10.4

But I must, as is my custom, send a little gift along with this letter. It is a true saying which I have found in Athenodorus: "Know that you are freed from all desires when you have reached such a point that you pray to God for nothing except what you can pray for openly." 

 

But how foolish men are now! They whisper the basest of prayers to Heaven; but if anyone listens, they are silent at once. That which they are unwilling for men to know, they communicate to God. 

 

Do you not think, then, that some such wholesome advice as this could be given you: "Live among men as if God beheld you; speak with God as if men were listening"? Farewell.

 

I have spent most of my adult life around people who take their religion seriously, and I have found that they will rise or fall much like any other people. Some are sincere to the core, and some are the craftiest of players. 

 

Just as the politicians are tempted to say one thing in public and do another in private, so the holy rollers are prone to praying very differently in church than they do behind closed doors. At the root of all such obstacles is a common human weakness, a desperate but doomed attempt to play tricks with Nature and Providence. 

 

In the Apology, Socrates warned us about the danger of trying to appear differently than we really are, of praising virtue to the crowd and then wallowing in vice when no one is looking. We may think that getting found out is the problem, but it goes far deeper than that: even if no one ever knows what the charlatan is up to, he still knows full well that he is a fractured and broken man, and that inner burden will be with him for all his days. The sin itself is already the worst form of punishment. 

 

The cure is in developing a sense of absolute integrity, never hesitating to speak what is true and to act according to what is good, regardless of the audience. To the weak-willed this seems foolhardy, while the man of principle is not afraid, because he does not care about winning or losing points in any game of manipulation. 

 

This all points back to what Seneca means by living to oneself. If I know what I am about, trusting in my own conscience and able to respect myself, I will have little concern for impressing anyone by putting on a show. I will most certainly care deeply for other people, perhaps far more than they might know, but I will not let myself be swept away by their opinions. 

 

If I am the same man, both on the inside and on the outside, then I am in harmony with myself and in harmony with the world around me. I can face myself with pride if I act with conviction, and I can face the world with compassion if I work from the foundation of my character. 

 

What a wonderful concept, to live openly and without any deception, as if God and men are always watching! It gives a whole new meaning to that old phrase, “If I have nothing to hide, I have nothing to fear." 

Written in 5/2012

IMAGE: Albrecht Dürer, Praying Hands (c. 1508)

 

The Choice of Hercules 6

Nicolas Poussin, The Choice of Hercules (c. 1637)

Dhammapada 122

Let no man think lightly of good, saying in his heart, it will not come nigh unto me. 

Even by the falling of water drops a water pot is filled; the wise man becomes full of good, even if he gathers it little by little.

Seneca, Moral Letters 10.3

Mark therefore what my hopes are for you—no, rather, what I am promising myself, inasmuch as hope is merely the title of an uncertain blessing: I do not know any person with whom I should prefer you to associate rather than yourself.
 
I remember in what a great-souled way you hurled forth certain phrases, and how full of strength they were! I immediately congratulated myself and said: "These words did not come from the edge of the lips; these utterances have a solid foundation. This man is not one of the many; he has regard for his real welfare."

Speak, and live, in this way; see to it that nothing keeps you down. 
 
As for your former prayers, you may dispense the gods from answering them; offer new prayers; pray for a sound mind and for good health, first of soul and then of body. And of course you should offer those prayers frequently. 
 
Call boldly upon God; you will not be asking him for that which belongs to another.
 
I suppose I become jaded by all the mediocrity, the indifference, and even the malice, such that I regularly need to be reminded how truly noble the human spirit can be. People will often point to certain extraordinary gifts or talents as signs of greatness, but I must remember that the calling to wisdom and virtue is universal, and it demands nothing more than an open mind and a loving heart. 
 
If I look behind all the glitz and glamor, I will learn not to be so discouraged. Any one of us can practice courage and conviction, and far more people choose to do so than may at first seem apparent. We won’t always notice them, because they don’t always win fame or fortune, though it is precisely because they don’t seek such things that they possess genuine character. 
 
I can almost feel along with Seneca here, having myself experienced the pride and joy of seeing a young person grow and then blossom. I learned the hard way that they do not achieve by jumping through hoops or winning trophies, and that their excellence lies rather in the formation of prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice. 
 
They can do so by trusting themselves, by being able to look at their faces in the mirror with respect, by becoming their own best friends. Then, and only then, will the decency and kindness within them flow outward to those around them. 
 
Some people suggest that we pray for all sorts of external conveniences; I have known a few who constantly pray to be delivered from their enemies. As much as we might prefer such things, however, they are not necessary to live a good life. It is more than enough to nurture what we have inside us, and to hope for the opportunity to always act with a dignity of conscience. 
 
To be rich may well require someone else being poor, and to be powerful may well require someone else being weak, but to do right never requires someone else being wronged. It only requires the development of what already belongs to me. 

Written in 5/2012

IMAGE: Karl von Blaas, Allegory of Valor (1859)

The Chapel

Arnold Böcklin, The Chapel (1898)

Aesop's Fables 38

The Fox and the Cat

A Fox was boasting to a Cat of its clever devices for escaping its enemies. "I have a whole bag of tricks," he said, "which contains a hundred ways of escaping my enemies."

"I have only one," said the Cat; "but I can generally manage with that." 

Just at that moment they heard the cry of a pack of hounds coming towards them, and the Cat immediately scampered up a tree and hid herself in the boughs. "This is my plan," said the Cat. "What are you going to do?" 

The Fox thought first of one way, then of another, and while he was debating the hounds came nearer and nearer, and at last the Fox in his confusion was caught up by the hounds and soon killed by the huntsmen. Miss Puss, who had been looking on, said:

"Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon."

Sayings of Ramakrishna 83

He who has once tasted the refined and crystalline sugar-candy, finds no pleasure in raw treacle; he who has slept in a palace, will not find pleasure in lying down in a dirty hovel. 

So the soul that has once tasted the sweetness of the Divine Bliss finds no delight in the ignoble pleasures of the world.

Seneca, Moral Letters 10.2

When persons are in mourning, or fearful about something, we are accustomed to watch them that we may prevent them from making a wrong use of their loneliness. 

 

No thoughtless person ought to be left alone; in such cases he only plans folly, and heaps up future dangers for himself or for others; he brings into play his base desires; the mind displays what fear or shame used to repress; it whets his boldness, stirs his passions, and goads his anger. 

 

And finally, the only benefit that solitude confers—the habit of trusting no man, and of fearing no witnesses—is lost to the fool; for he betrays himself.

 

I often find that my eagerness can lead to hastiness, and that my intentions will rush far ahead of my capacity to fulfill them. When I first read from the Stoics about the importance of self-reliance, I was relieved to learn how my life did not have to be determined by the thoughts and actions of others, but I jumped the gun by foolishly assuming that it would be enough for me to just go it alone. 

 

I was mightily confused about the difference between still living completely in the world, while finding strength from my own convictions, and frantically running away from the world, while wallowing in my own self-pity. Solitude is quite bearable, even peaceful, when I know who I am and what I am about, though it becomes a miserable loneliness when I lack a sense of inner purpose. 

 

I will always have the power to act with understanding and with love, whatever circumstances may surround me, and so I need not believe that being cheered or jeered must make or break my happiness. What I think and what I do, the sum of my own actions, is what completes me. 

 

It will not go so well for me, however, if I am somehow expecting the world to fix me, and I then only turn to isolation when I have been bitterly disappointed by the fact that the people around me will not always act as I prefer. What they think and they do, which is entirely for them to determine, becomes an excuse for my own failure of personal accountability. 

 

There is perfectly good reason that any caring and compassionate person will do his best to offer support and encouragement to someone who is overwhelmed by sadness or despair: he knows that solitude will only magnify the confusion that is within the soul of the sufferer. Being alone is not what is needed right now. 

 

You will also notice that any cold and calculating person will leave the sufferer to his own devices, because he only offers his company when he expects to receive something useful or gratifying in return. 

 

The man at peace with himself knows how to use his seclusion as a blessing, but the man at war with himself will see it as a curse. 

 

Similarly, the virtuous man gives of himself when company is needed, but the vicious man takes for himself when company is convenient. 

Written in 5/2012

IMAGE: Hans Thoma, Loneliness (1880)

Stoic Snippets 72

Substance is like a river in a continual flow, and the activities of things are in constant change, and the causes work in infinite varieties; and there is hardly anything which stands still. 

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.23

Stockdale on Stoicism 6

Now I'm talking like a preacher here for a bit. Please understand that I'm not trying to sell anything; it's just the most efficient way to explain it. Stoicism is one of those things that, when described analytically, sounds horrible to some modem people. Stoic scholars agree that to describe it effectively, the teacher must "become, for the time being at least," a Stoic.

For instance, to give you a better feel for why "your own good and your own evil" are on the list, I want to quote Alexander Solzhenitsyn from his book Gulag Archipelago, when he talks about that point in prison when he gets his act together, realizes his residual powers, and starts what I know as "ascending," riding the updrafts of occasional euphoria as you realize you are getting to know yourself and the world for the first time.

"It was only when I lay there on the rotting prison straw that I sensed
within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not between states nor between social classes nor between political parties, but right through every human heart, through all human hearts. And that is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me, bless you, prison, for having been a part of my life."

I understand that. He learned, as I and many others have learned, that
good and evil are not just abstractions that you kick around and give lectures about, and attribute to this person and that. The only good or evil that mean anything are right in your own heart: within your will, within your power, where it's up to you. What the Stoics say is: "You take care of that, and you'll have your hands full."

—from James B. Stockdale, The Stoic Warrior's Triad

Seneca, Moral Letters 10.1

Letter 10: On Living to oneself

 

Yes, I do not change my opinion: avoid the many, avoid the few, avoid even the individual. I know of no one with whom I should be willing to have you shared. And see what an opinion of you I have; for I dare to trust you with your own self. 

 

Crates, they say, the disciple of the very Stilpo whom I mentioned in a former letter, noticed a young man walking by himself, and asked him what he was doing all alone. 

 

"I am communing with myself," replied the youth. 

 

"Pray be careful, then," said Crates, "and take good heed; you are communing with a bad man!"

 

Even though I will not be made by the company I keep, the company I keep will nevertheless be an expression of who I choose to make of myself. Once I allow myself to be measured by the thoughts and actions of others, whoever they might be, I have abandoned my most precious possession, a mastery of myself. 

 

Yes, I do certainly wish to reach out in friendship, and yet none of that will be of any service if I am not first and foremost a friend to myself. 

 

A Stoic sense of self-reliance can feel quite terrifying, especially since I am so accustomed to hiding behind others, or getting lost in the crowd, or following the fashions of the day. It is, nevertheless, necessary to be completely comfortable in my own skin, to find peace and contentment with my own character. When this is pursued with conviction and courage, the fear is transformed into a liberation. 

 

I must not become too complacent, however, such that I begin to assume that anything I think or choose is worthy and acceptable. I can either become my own best friend or my own worst enemy, depending on whether I choose to work with Nature or against Nature. 

 

It is important to know if I can trust my fellows, essential to know if I can trust myself.

 

I spent too many of my younger years hardly liking myself, let alone respecting myself, and it was all because I was passing the responsibility for happiness onto circumstances beyond my power. I should offer to love, by all means, but I should not demand that others provide it on my terms. 

 

I am quite familiar with the dilemma of when it is safe to trust a child on his own, and yet I can’t help but wonder how many of us adults are really capable of being trusted on our own. Yes, we can go through the motions of our jobs, and pay the bills, and drive a car, and still too many of us are clueless about forming the virtues that lead to a healthy soul. 

 

Communing with myself? What will be the use when I have not made myself the understanding and caring person who can be relied upon to steer me right? Crates didn’t pull any punches, and he didn’t win any awards for his sweet talk; he wouldn’t have been a philosopher that cut to the bone if he did. 

 

I need to reflect upon myself with the same brutal honesty if I am to become that reliable companion.

Written in 5/2012

IMAGE: Domenico Fetti, The Cynic Philosopher Crates (c. 1620)

Dhammapada 121

Let no man think lightly of evil, saying in his heart, it will not come nigh unto me. 

Even by the falling of water drops a water pot is filled; the fool becomes full of evil, even if he gathers it little by little.

Abandoned Places 16

Nature 18

Sayings of Ramakrishna 82

The naked Sage, Totapuri, used to say, "If a brass pot be not rubbed daily, it will get rusty. So if a man does not contemplate the Deity daily, his heart will grow impure."

To him Sri Ramakrishna replied, "Yes, but if the vessel be of gold, it does not require daily cleaning. The man who has reached God requires prayers or penances no more."

Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ 3.30

Of seeking divine help, and the confidence of obtaining grace

1. "My Son, I the Lord am a stronghold in the day of trouble. Come unto Me, when it is not well with you.

"This it is which chiefly hinders heavenly consolation, that you too slowly betake yourself unto prayer. For before you earnestly seek unto Me, you first seek after many means of comfort, and refresh yourself in outward things: so it comes to pass that all things profit you but little until you learn that it is I who deliver those who trust in Me; neither beside Me is there any strong help, nor profitable counsel, nor enduring remedy. But now, recovering courage after the tempest, grow strong in the light of My mercies, for I am nigh, says the Lord, that I may restore all things not only as they were at the first, but also abundantly and one upon another.

2. "For is anything too hard for Me, or shall I be like unto one who says and does not? Where is your faith? Stand fast and with perseverance. Be long-suffering and strong. Consolation will come unto you in its due season. Wait for Me; yes, wait; I will come and heal you. It is temptation which vexes you, and a vain fear which terrifies you. What does care about future events bring you, save sorrow upon sorrow? Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. It is vain and useless to be disturbed or lifted up about future things which perhaps will never come.

3. "But it is the nature of man to be deceived by fancies of this sort, and it is a sign of a mind which is still weak to be so easily drawn away at the suggestion of the enemy. For he cares not whether he deceives and beguiles by true means or false; whether he throws you down by the love of the present or fear of the future. Therefore let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Believe in Me, and put your trust in My mercy. When you think yourself far removed from Me, I am often the nearer. When you reckon that almost all is lost, then often is greater opportunity of gain at hand. All is not lost when something goes contrary to your wishes. You ought not to judge according to present feeling, nor so to take or give way to any grief which befalls you, as if all hope of escape were taken away.

4. "Think not yourself totally abandoned, although for the time I have sent to you some tribulation, or have even withdrawn some cherished consolation; for this is the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. And without doubt it is better for you and for all My other servants, that you should be proved by adversities, than that you should have all things as you would. I know your hidden thoughts: and that it is very needful for your soul's health that sometimes you be left without relish, lest perchance you be lifted up by prosperity, and desirous to please yourself in that which you are not. What I have given I am able to take away, and to restore again at My good pleasure.

5. "When I shall have given, it is Mine; when I shall have taken away, I have not taken what is yours; for every good gift and every perfect gift is from Me. If I shall have sent upon you grief or any vexation, be not angry, nor let your heart be sad; I am able quickly to lift you up and to change every burden into joy. But I am just and greatly to be praised, when I do thus unto you.

6. "If you rightly consider, and look upon it with truth, you ought never to be so sadly cast down because of adversity, but rather should rejoice and give thanks; yes, verily to count it the highest joy that I afflict you with sorrows and spare you not. As My Father has loved Me, so love I you; thus have I spoken unto My beloved disciples: whom I sent forth not unto worldly joys, but to great strivings; not unto honors, but unto contempt; not unto ease, but to labors; not unto rest, but to bring forth much fruit with patience. My son, remember these words."

Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 1.1

Book 1: On the Contempt of Death

  

At a time when I had entirely, or to a great degree, released myself from my labors as an advocate, and from my duties as a senator, I had recourse again, Brutus, principally by your advice, to those studies which never had been out of my mind, although neglected at times, and which after a long interval I resumed.

 

And now, since the principles and rules of all arts which relate to living well depend on the study of wisdom, which is called philosophy, I have thought it an employment worthy of me to illustrate them in the Latin tongue, not because philosophy could not be understood in the Greek language, or by the teaching of Greek masters; but it has always been my opinion that our countrymen have, in some instances, made wiser discoveries than the Greeks, with reference to those subjects which they have considered worthy of devoting their attention to, and in others have improved upon their discoveries, so that in one way or other we surpass them on every point. 

 

For, with regard to the manners and habits of private life, and family and domestic affairs, we certainly manage them with more elegance, and better than they did; and as to our republic, that our ancestors have, beyond all dispute, formed on better customs and laws. 

 

What shall I say of our military affairs; in which our ancestors have been most eminent in valor, and still more so in discipline? 

 

As to those things which are attained not by study, but Nature, neither Greece, nor any nation, is comparable to us; for what people has displayed such gravity, such steadiness, such greatness of soul, probity, faith—such distinguished virtue of every kind, as to be equal to our ancestors.

 

In learning, indeed, and all kinds of literature, Greece did excel us, and it was easy to do so where there was no competition; for while among the Greeks the poets were the most ancient species of learned men—since Homer and Hesiod lived before the foundation of Rome, and Archilochus was a contemporary of Romulus—we received poetry much later. For it was about five hundred and ten years after the building of Rome before Livius published a play in the consulship of C. Claudius, the son of Cæcus, and M. Tuditanus, a year before the birth of Ennius, who was older than Plautus and Naevius.

 

Though I spent several years being offered what was called a classical, or liberal arts, or “Great Books” education, I cannot recall a single instance where I was asked to directly read anything substantial from the writings of Marcus Tullius Cicero. 

 

I was told that he was a great statesman and orator, of course, and I was given all the context about his epic political battles in the Roman Senate, and yet we somehow passed over his actual words. Even when I was struggling to learn Latin, we started with Julius Caesar and Petronius, and then jumped to Virgil and Ovid. Beyond a few practice sentences in Wheelock, Cicero was nowhere to be found. 

It was only later that I realized I should remedy this absence. The classicists seemed to think I was regressing, the philosophers seemed to think I was being intellectually lazy, and the historians seemed to think I was wasting my time on penny dreadfuls. 

 

I was also becoming far more interested in Stoicism, and yet the few “orthodox” Stoics of the time were quick to tell me that there was nothing Stoic about Cicero at all, that he was just an opportunist who used whatever served his immediate purposes. 

 

I’m not entirely sure why Cicero gets such short shrift. Is it because we so dislike politicians of any sort? Is it because we somehow think that the Romans couldn’t manage profound philosophical thinking as well as the Greeks? Is it because we prefer the swooning verses of dark poets over the incisive words of the folks who get their hands dirty in the public square? 

 

I shouldn’t speculate too much, and instead I should see what Cicero can actually teach me, whatever else the experts may say. I hate to admit it, but their smug dismissal only encouraged me. 

 

I started with On Duties, and I couldn’t help but think that the text was greatly underrated, a noble appeal to both principle and practice. Since Stoicism had tickled my fancy, I moved on to the Tusculan Disputations, to find a wonderful summation of so much ancient wisdom. 

 

“Yes, but it’s not terribly original, and he mixes and matches different philosophical schools, sloppily going from the Stoics, to the Platonists, to the Peripatetics.”

 

I know I am perhaps too eccentric in this regard, but I do prize gritty truth over glitzy originality. 

 

I know I am perhaps too flaky in this regard, but I see no need to stick with one or another “-ism” in order to honor such truth. 

 

I find it quite interesting that Cicero opens the text with some explanation of his motives, and how this also speaks to some of the criticisms of his thinking. 

 

“Well, he’s a decent popularizer of philosophy, I suppose, but there’s not much more to it than that.”

 

I know I am perhaps too reactionary in this regard, but I am quite happy with daily relevance instead of academic snobbery. 

 

At this late point in his life, after the death of his daughter, Cicero tried to withdraw from the hectic public sphere, and to devote himself more to the quiet study of philosophy. This dialogue, addressed to Brutus, very soon to be one of the assassins of Julius Caesar, considers perennial questions about the meaning of death and loss, and how virtue stands as the only remedy to our suffering. 

 

I am wary of hasty generalizations about contrasting the Greeks and the Romans, much as I am wary about contrasting peaches and panda bears, though Cicero seems keen to address the issue head-on. 

 

I was once told, and I do continue to pass it on to others, that the entire spectrum of human wisdom can be encapsulated in a study of Greek philosophy. It’s all there, every problem and every solution, every agony and every redemption. 

 

I also say that one can find something quite similar in the study of Hindu philosophy, for example, but that tends to get more readily passed over by the bigwigs. 

 

Now what about the Romans? I wonder if Cicero feels a bit defensive here, as if he has something to prove. I do not think he needs to protest so much, as his own mastery of words, his own grasp of wisdom and virtue, and his ability to put his money where his mouth is are proof enough of the glory that could be found in Rome. 

 

Were the Greeks or the Romans better? Yes, each in their own distinct way. One came first, and the other did something new and different with that heritage. Learn wherever and whenever you can.

Written in 2/1996

Be Still in Haste

"Be Still In Haste"

Wendell Berry (1962)

How quietly I

begin again

from this moment
looking at the
clock, I start over

so much time has
passed, and is equaled
by whatever
split-second is present

from this
moment this moment
is the first

Stoic Snippets 71

Reverence that which is best in the Universe; and this is that which makes use of all things and directs all things. 

And in like manner also reverence that which is best in yourself; and this is of the same kind as that.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.21

Hans Holbein, The Dance of Death 28: The Rich Man

Epictetus, Discourses 1.5.4

Can I argue with him any longer? What fire or sword, I say, am I to bring to bear on him, to prove that his mind is deadened? He has sensation and pretends that he has not; he is worse than the dead. 

 

One man does not see the battle; he is ill off. This other sees it but stirs not, nor advances; his state is still more wretched. His sense of shame and self-respect is cut out of him, and his reasoning faculty, though not cut away, is brutalized. 

 

Am I to call this “strength”? Heaven forbid, unless I call it “strength” in those who sin against Nature, that makes them do and say in public whatever occurs to their fancy.

 

There will be little use in appealing to reason, when the extreme skeptic’s problem is not a matter of reason at all, but rather a matter of pigheadedness. He will not see what he chooses to ignore. 

 

At the times when I have dug in my heels in this way, J have even begun to honestly believe the stories I tell myself, where facts are made subject to feelings of convenience. If someone tries to offer me a sound demonstration, I am only interested in ways to manipulate their words, since a love of truth has given way to playing a game of vanity. 

 

Sometimes it is best not to engage at all, and to just walk away, not to be hateful or dismissive, but just to encourage some common sense with a bit of peace and quiet. As Douglas Adams suggested, when our lips stop moving, our brains may start working. 

 

Nothing will be of any use to me if I do not take responsibility for myself, and showmanship just gives me another excuse to get caught up in fanciful diversions. 

 

When I am being intellectually stubborn, clever words have usually poured more fuel on the fire, though the presence of someone else’s calm example has often put me in my place. To simply see others living well has a way of cutting through the nonsense.

 

Yes, it is one thing not to know, and quite another to refuse to know. While the first might be involuntary, the second is always voluntary, and therefore a far more harmful condition. 

 

I regularly hear people referring to one another as “ignorant” or “stupid” when they are faced with a point of view that they consider mistaken, and I wonder if that is both condescending and inaccurate. Even if a lack of awareness is the cause, what will make it so tragic is that it is embraced willfully. 

 

As a corollary, it is hardly possible to “educate” or “inform” people by merely bombarding them with more and more data. They must wish to understand for themselves, and all the grandstanding or propaganda in the world won’t conquer a stubborn will. Digging in our heels, just for the sake of feeling gratified and justified, is not the sort of strength we need. 

 

Never wrestle with a pig. You just get dirty, and the pig enjoys it. 

Written in 12/2016

Dhammapada 120

Even a good man sees evil days, as long as his good deed has not ripened; but when his good deed has ripened, then does the good man see happy days.

Ellis Walker, Epictetus in Poetical Paraphrase 12

XII. 

As in a voyage, when you at anchor ride,

You go on shore fresh water to provide;

And perhaps gather what you chance to find,
Shell-fish, or roots of palatable kind,
Yet still you ought to fix your greatest care
Upon your ship, upon your bus'ness there:
Still thoughtful, lest perhaps the master call;
Which if he do, then you must part with all
Those darling trifles, that retard your haste,
Left, bound like sheep, you by constraint are cast
Into the hold.  Thus, in your course of life,
Suppose you a lovely son, or beauteous wife,
Instead of those less pleasing trinkets, find,
And bless your stars, and think your fortune kind;
Yet still be ready, if the master call,
To cast thy burthen down and part with all
Forsake the beauteous wife and lovely son,
Run to thy ship without reluctance run,
Nor look behind: but, if grown old and gray,
Keep always near thy ship, and never stay
To stoop  for worthless lumber on the way.
Short is the time allow'd to make thy coast,
Which must not for such tasteless joy be lost,
Thy rev'rend play-things will but ill appear:
Besides, thou'lt find they'll cost thee very dear:
'Tis well if age can its own weakness bear,
Unmann'd with dotage; when thou'rt call'd upon
How wilt thou drag the tiresome luggage on?
With tears and sighs much folly thou'lt betray,
And crawl with pain undecently away.