We therefore find mentioned, even by Epicurus, those goods which one would prefer not to experience; which, however, because circumstances have decided thus, must be welcomed and approved and placed on a level with the highest goods. We cannot say that the good which has rounded out a happy life, the good for which Epicurus rendered thanks in the last words he uttered, is not equal to the greatest.
Allow me, excellent Lucilius, to utter a still bolder word: if any goods could be greater than others, I should prefer those which seem harsh to those which are mild and alluring, and should pronounce them greater. For it is more of an accomplishment to break one's way through difficulties than to keep joy within bounds.
It requires the same use of reason, I am fully aware, for a man to endure prosperity well and also to endure misfortune bravely. That man may be just as brave who sleeps in front of the ramparts without fear of danger when no enemy attacks the camp, as the man who, when the tendons of his legs have been severed, holds himself up on his knees and does not let fall his weapons; but it is to the blood-stained soldier returning from the front that men cry: "Well done, thou hero!" And therefore I should bestow greater praise upon those goods that have stood trial, and show courage, and have fought it out with fortune.
Should I hesitate whether to give greater praise to the maimed and shriveled hand of Mucius than to the uninjured hand of the bravest man in the world? There stood Mucius, despising the enemy and despising the fire, and watched his hand as it dripped blood over the fire on his enemy's altar, until Porsenna, envying the fame of the hero whose punishment he was advocating, ordered the fire to be removed against the will of the victim.
Allow me, excellent Lucilius, to utter a still bolder word: if any goods could be greater than others, I should prefer those which seem harsh to those which are mild and alluring, and should pronounce them greater. For it is more of an accomplishment to break one's way through difficulties than to keep joy within bounds.
It requires the same use of reason, I am fully aware, for a man to endure prosperity well and also to endure misfortune bravely. That man may be just as brave who sleeps in front of the ramparts without fear of danger when no enemy attacks the camp, as the man who, when the tendons of his legs have been severed, holds himself up on his knees and does not let fall his weapons; but it is to the blood-stained soldier returning from the front that men cry: "Well done, thou hero!" And therefore I should bestow greater praise upon those goods that have stood trial, and show courage, and have fought it out with fortune.
Should I hesitate whether to give greater praise to the maimed and shriveled hand of Mucius than to the uninjured hand of the bravest man in the world? There stood Mucius, despising the enemy and despising the fire, and watched his hand as it dripped blood over the fire on his enemy's altar, until Porsenna, envying the fame of the hero whose punishment he was advocating, ordered the fire to be removed against the will of the victim.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 66
Even those of my peers who were willing to work hard were mainly interested in an effort now for the sake of the luxuries later; I was met with blank stares if I ever suggested how character could be an end in itself, and they could not bring themselves to conceive of a good life that wasn’t also accompanied by prosperity and comfort.
The rigorous studying was for the perfect grades, and the perfect grades were for the top law school, and the top law school was for getting a job with the best firm, since the best firm paid the highest salary and brought the greatest renown. They would then pass these same values on to their children, so the cycle might continue.
Now I would not complain if I had a fatter wallet, and I would even put in the extra hours if it were in the cards, but I have found that each and every time such a carrot was dangled in front of me, I was also being asked to sell just a little bit of my integrity. While your mileage may vary, I am not willing to pay that kind of price. We sadly cling to a rather sinister model of success.
I do not prefer hardship—let this cup pass from me. Yet if I am torn between conscience and convenience, I know what I should do, and I must do so gladly, without harboring any resentment. Far too often, we take happiness to be in conflict with the practice of the virtues, when the reality is that happiness is the very practice of the virtues. What else could any man desire than being most fully human?
There is a world of difference between the nobility of sacrificing the lesser for the greater, and the treachery of bartering the greater for the lesser. Compromise can only make sense when we have our priorities in order. I am pleased that Epicurus also understood this, that it is more than merely a Stoic eccentricity.
If I am to stick with an indifference to circumstances. I must be careful not to romanticize suffering, just as I should not admire a life of ease; sound minds with good hearts are all equal. Nevertheless, I understand why Seneca has a special place for those who face the more difficult challenges, because they reflect such a dignity in the most remarkable of ways. There is a greater glory on the outside when an adversity is resisted from the inside.
For myself, I know how exceptional fortitude inspires me to increase my own constancy all the more, and how I find myself roused to a regimen of temperance when I am provided with less rather than with more. Perhaps the truly vigorous instances of virtue are so noteworthy precisely because they are too rare.
I do not believe Mucius was a better man for thrusting his right hand into the fire to deny Porsenna the power to harm him, but I do believe he was a more exemplary man for his choice. At the very least, he was certainly not in a worse state than some senator pushing paper back behind the walls of Rome.
Even those of my peers who were willing to work hard were mainly interested in an effort now for the sake of the luxuries later; I was met with blank stares if I ever suggested how character could be an end in itself, and they could not bring themselves to conceive of a good life that wasn’t also accompanied by prosperity and comfort.
The rigorous studying was for the perfect grades, and the perfect grades were for the top law school, and the top law school was for getting a job with the best firm, since the best firm paid the highest salary and brought the greatest renown. They would then pass these same values on to their children, so the cycle might continue.
Now I would not complain if I had a fatter wallet, and I would even put in the extra hours if it were in the cards, but I have found that each and every time such a carrot was dangled in front of me, I was also being asked to sell just a little bit of my integrity. While your mileage may vary, I am not willing to pay that kind of price. We sadly cling to a rather sinister model of success.
I do not prefer hardship—let this cup pass from me. Yet if I am torn between conscience and convenience, I know what I should do, and I must do so gladly, without harboring any resentment. Far too often, we take happiness to be in conflict with the practice of the virtues, when the reality is that happiness is the very practice of the virtues. What else could any man desire than being most fully human?
There is a world of difference between the nobility of sacrificing the lesser for the greater, and the treachery of bartering the greater for the lesser. Compromise can only make sense when we have our priorities in order. I am pleased that Epicurus also understood this, that it is more than merely a Stoic eccentricity.
If I am to stick with an indifference to circumstances. I must be careful not to romanticize suffering, just as I should not admire a life of ease; sound minds with good hearts are all equal. Nevertheless, I understand why Seneca has a special place for those who face the more difficult challenges, because they reflect such a dignity in the most remarkable of ways. There is a greater glory on the outside when an adversity is resisted from the inside.
For myself, I know how exceptional fortitude inspires me to increase my own constancy all the more, and how I find myself roused to a regimen of temperance when I am provided with less rather than with more. Perhaps the truly vigorous instances of virtue are so noteworthy precisely because they are too rare.
I do not believe Mucius was a better man for thrusting his right hand into the fire to deny Porsenna the power to harm him, but I do believe he was a more exemplary man for his choice. At the very least, he was certainly not in a worse state than some senator pushing paper back behind the walls of Rome.
—Reflection written in 7/2013
IMAGE: Peter Paul Rubens, Mucius Scaevola before Porsenna (c. 1628)
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