Paradox 1: That Virtue is the Only Good
I am apprehensive that this position may seem to some among you to have been derived from the schools of the Stoics, and not from my own sentiments. Yet I will tell you my real opinion, and that too more briefly than so important a matter requires to be discussed.
By Hercules, I never was one who reckoned among good and desirable things, treasures, magnificent mansions, interest, power, or those pleasures to which mankind are most chiefly addicted. For I have observed, that those to whom these things abounded, still desired them most: for the thirst of cupidity is never filled or satiated. They are tormented not only with the lust of increasing, but with the fear of losing what they have.
I own that I often look in vain for the good sense of our ancestors, those most continent men, who affixed the appellation of good to those weak, fleeting, circumstances of wealth, when in truth and fact their sentiments were the very reverse. Can any bad man enjoy a good thing? Or, is it possible for a man not to be good, when he lives in the very abundance of good things? And yet we see all those things so distributed that wicked men possess them, and that they are inauspicious to the good.
Now let any man indulge his raillery, if he please; but right reason will ever have more weight with me than the opinion of the multitude. Nor shall I ever account a man, when he has lost his stock of cattle, or furniture, to have lost his good things. Nor shall I seldom speak in praise of Bias, who, if I mistake not, is reckoned among the seven wise men.
For when the enemy took possession of Priene, his native country, and when the rest so managed their flight as to carry off with them their effects, on his being recommended by a certain person to do the same, “Why,” answered he, “I do so, for I carry with me all my possessions.” He did not so much as esteem those playthings of fortune, which we even term our blessings, to be his own.
But someone will ask, what then is a real good? Whatever is done uprightly, honestly, and virtuously, is truly said to be done well; and whatever is upright, honest, and agreeable to virtue, that alone, as I think, is a good thing.
I am apprehensive that this position may seem to some among you to have been derived from the schools of the Stoics, and not from my own sentiments. Yet I will tell you my real opinion, and that too more briefly than so important a matter requires to be discussed.
By Hercules, I never was one who reckoned among good and desirable things, treasures, magnificent mansions, interest, power, or those pleasures to which mankind are most chiefly addicted. For I have observed, that those to whom these things abounded, still desired them most: for the thirst of cupidity is never filled or satiated. They are tormented not only with the lust of increasing, but with the fear of losing what they have.
I own that I often look in vain for the good sense of our ancestors, those most continent men, who affixed the appellation of good to those weak, fleeting, circumstances of wealth, when in truth and fact their sentiments were the very reverse. Can any bad man enjoy a good thing? Or, is it possible for a man not to be good, when he lives in the very abundance of good things? And yet we see all those things so distributed that wicked men possess them, and that they are inauspicious to the good.
Now let any man indulge his raillery, if he please; but right reason will ever have more weight with me than the opinion of the multitude. Nor shall I ever account a man, when he has lost his stock of cattle, or furniture, to have lost his good things. Nor shall I seldom speak in praise of Bias, who, if I mistake not, is reckoned among the seven wise men.
For when the enemy took possession of Priene, his native country, and when the rest so managed their flight as to carry off with them their effects, on his being recommended by a certain person to do the same, “Why,” answered he, “I do so, for I carry with me all my possessions.” He did not so much as esteem those playthings of fortune, which we even term our blessings, to be his own.
But someone will ask, what then is a real good? Whatever is done uprightly, honestly, and virtuously, is truly said to be done well; and whatever is upright, honest, and agreeable to virtue, that alone, as I think, is a good thing.
—from Cicero, Stoic Paradoxes 1
I’m afraid I still feel a bit annoyed whenever I venture to affirm a certain value, and I am then immediately told which school of thought I must have stolen it from. While I suspect there is really nothing new under the sun, we should give people credit for arriving at their own beliefs, for their own reasons, and not assume that everything is about a blind conformity to this or that “-ism”.
Cicero was hardly a loyal disciple, and he came to some conclusions about virtue, regardless of whether anyone else happened to be preaching them. I found my life was falling apart, and I also came to some conclusions about virtue, not because I read about them in the Stoics, but because I realized I wound never be happy without them.
Now deep down inside, I have always known why honor trumps gratification, though that didn’t stop me from chasing after some glittering prizes when I was listening to my gut in preference to my head. Even then, however, I wasn’t proud of my turpitude, and I tried to convince myself that I could somehow still disguise my lust under the appearance of love.
Though I could try to ignore the sublime syllogisms, there remained one absolute and irrefutable proof of why avarice can never pay: despite their protests to the contrary, the grasping folks remain as miserable folks. Look behind the posturing, and an anxiety betrays their inner state. For all that they acquire and consume, they are in constant need of more and more, and as much as they build themselves up, they are forever in terror of being dragged back down.
The most striking evidence in favor of the virtues is to closely observe the daily life of a scoundrel. Many will proclaim their greatness, but only a very few will live up to the name; you will notice how if anything good has come from wealth or rank, it is solely due to the guidance of character. If a worldly prosperity alone makes us blessed, then why do the wicked remain so cursed? And if a worldly poverty is itself a cause for grief, then how do the righteous continue to be happy?
If I bother to reflect with any clarity, as opposed to just following the herd, I will recognize why I am at my best when I inform my conscience, and I am at my worst when I enslave myself to circumstances. Of all the things I know I could lose, do I honestly think that I should prefer to surrender my principles before I am parted from my property?
I will always be a nerd, so I cannot begin to measure how much I have learned from losing myself in great books. Nevertheless, the most powerful lessons have always come from the example of noble deeds, far more powerful than the charm of any polished words. Plato makes me ponder, for example, while Socrates challenges me to act. We may have no brilliant treatises by Bias of Priene, but I feel ashamed of my petty attachments when I hear of his total satisfaction with simply owning himself.
Has it been done with prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice? Then you have your true good. The rest is an afterthought.
I’m afraid I still feel a bit annoyed whenever I venture to affirm a certain value, and I am then immediately told which school of thought I must have stolen it from. While I suspect there is really nothing new under the sun, we should give people credit for arriving at their own beliefs, for their own reasons, and not assume that everything is about a blind conformity to this or that “-ism”.
Cicero was hardly a loyal disciple, and he came to some conclusions about virtue, regardless of whether anyone else happened to be preaching them. I found my life was falling apart, and I also came to some conclusions about virtue, not because I read about them in the Stoics, but because I realized I wound never be happy without them.
Now deep down inside, I have always known why honor trumps gratification, though that didn’t stop me from chasing after some glittering prizes when I was listening to my gut in preference to my head. Even then, however, I wasn’t proud of my turpitude, and I tried to convince myself that I could somehow still disguise my lust under the appearance of love.
Though I could try to ignore the sublime syllogisms, there remained one absolute and irrefutable proof of why avarice can never pay: despite their protests to the contrary, the grasping folks remain as miserable folks. Look behind the posturing, and an anxiety betrays their inner state. For all that they acquire and consume, they are in constant need of more and more, and as much as they build themselves up, they are forever in terror of being dragged back down.
The most striking evidence in favor of the virtues is to closely observe the daily life of a scoundrel. Many will proclaim their greatness, but only a very few will live up to the name; you will notice how if anything good has come from wealth or rank, it is solely due to the guidance of character. If a worldly prosperity alone makes us blessed, then why do the wicked remain so cursed? And if a worldly poverty is itself a cause for grief, then how do the righteous continue to be happy?
If I bother to reflect with any clarity, as opposed to just following the herd, I will recognize why I am at my best when I inform my conscience, and I am at my worst when I enslave myself to circumstances. Of all the things I know I could lose, do I honestly think that I should prefer to surrender my principles before I am parted from my property?
I will always be a nerd, so I cannot begin to measure how much I have learned from losing myself in great books. Nevertheless, the most powerful lessons have always come from the example of noble deeds, far more powerful than the charm of any polished words. Plato makes me ponder, for example, while Socrates challenges me to act. We may have no brilliant treatises by Bias of Priene, but I feel ashamed of my petty attachments when I hear of his total satisfaction with simply owning himself.
Has it been done with prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice? Then you have your true good. The rest is an afterthought.
—Reflection written in 5/1999
IMAGE: Paulus Bor, Allegory of Avarice (c. 1650)
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