CHAPTER 13
On Anxiety
When I see a man anxious, I say, "What does this man want? If he did
not want something which is not in his power, how could he be
anxious?" For this reason a lute player when he is singing by
himself has no anxiety, but when he enters the theatre, he is
anxious even if he has a good voice and plays well on the lute; for he
not only wishes to sing well, but also to obtain applause: but this is
not in his power. Accordingly, where he has skill, there he has
confidence. Bring any single person who knows nothing of music, and
the musician does not care for him. But in the matter where a man
knows nothing and has not been practiced, there he is anxious. What
matter is this? He knows not what a crowd is or what the praise of a
crowd is. However he has learned to strike the lowest chord and the
highest; but what the praise of the many is, and what power it has
in life he neither knows nor has he thought about it. Hence he must of
necessity tremble and grow pale. I cannot then say that a man is not a
lute player when I see him afraid, but I can say something else, and
not one thing, but many. And first of all I call him a stranger and
say, "This man does not know in what part of the world he is, but
though he has been here so long, he is ignorant of the laws of the
State and the customs, and what is permitted and what is not; and he
has never employed any lawyer to tell him and to explain the laws."
But a man does not write a will, if he does not does not know how it
ought to be written, or he employs a person who does know; nor does he
rashly seal a bond or write a security. But he uses his desire without
a lawyer's advice, and aversion, and pursuit, and attempt and purpose.
"How do you mean without a lawyer?" He does not know that he wills
what is not allowed, and does not will that which is of necessity; and
he does not know either what is his own or what is or what is
another man's; but if he did know, he could never be impeded, he would
never be hindered, he would not be anxious. "How so?" Is any man
then afraid about things which are not evil? "No." Is he afraid
about things which are evils, but still so far within his power that
they may not happen? "Certainly he is not." If, then, the things which
are independent of the will are neither good nor bad, and all things
which do depend on the will are within our power, and no man can
either take them from us or give them to us, if we do not choose,
where is room left for anxiety? But we are anxious about our poor
body, our little property, about the will of Caesar; but not anxious
about things internal. Are we anxious about not forming a false
opinion? No, for this is in my power. About not exerting our movements
contrary to nature? No, not even about this. When then you see a man
pale, as the physician says, judging from the complexion, this man's
spleen is disordered, that man's liver; so also say, this man's desire
and aversion are disordered, he is not in the right way, he is in a
fever. For nothing else changes the color, or causes trembling or
chattering of the teeth, or causes a man to
Sink in his knees and shift from foot to foot.
For this reason when Zeno was going to meet Antigonus, he was not
anxious, for Antigonus had no power over any of the things which
Zeno admired; and Zeno did not care for those things over which
Antigonus had power. But Antigonus was anxious when he was going to
meet Zeno, for he wished to please Zeno; but this was a thing
external. But Zeno did not want to please Antigonus; for no man who is
skilled in any art wishes to please one who has no such skill.
Should I try to please you? Why? I suppose, you know the measure
by which one man is estimated by another. Have you taken pains to
learn what is a good man and what is a bad man, and how a man
becomes one or the other? Why, then, are you not good yourself? "How,"
he replies, "am I not good?" Because no good man laments or roans or
weeps, no good man is pale and trembles, or says, "How will he receive
me, how will he listen to me?" Slave, just as it pleases him. Why do
you care about what belongs to others? Is it now his fault if he
receives badly what proceeds from you? "Certainly." And is it possible
that a fault should be one man's, and the evil in another? "No." Why
then are you anxious about that which belongs to others? "Your
question is reasonable; but I am anxious how I shall speak to him."
Cannot you then speak to him as you choose? "But I fear that I may
be disconcerted?" If you are going to write the name of Dion, are
you afraid that you would be disconcerted? "By no means." Why? is it
not because you have practiced writing the name? "Certainly." Well, if
you were going to read the name, would you not feel the same? and why?
Because every art has a certain strength and confidence in the
things which belong to it. Have you then not practiced speaking? and
what else did you learn in the school? Syllogisms and sophistical
propositions? For what purpose? was it not for the purpose of
discoursing skillfully? and is not discoursing skillfully the same
as discoursing seasonably and cautiously and with intelligence, and
also without making mistakes and without hindrance, and besides all
this with confidence? "Yes." When, then, you are mounted on a horse
and go into a plain, are you anxious at being matched against a man
who is on foot, and anxious in a matter in which you are practiced,
and he is not? "Yes, but that person has power to kill me." Speak
the truth then, unhappy man, and do not brag, nor claim to be a
philosopher, nor refuse to acknowledge your masters, but so long as
you present this handle in your body, follow every man who is stronger
than yourself. Socrates used to practice speaking, he who talked as he
did to the tyrants, to the dicasts, he who talked in his prison.
Diogenes had practiced speaking, he who spoke as he did to
Alexander, to the pirates, to the person who bought him. These men
were confident in the things which they practiced. But do you walk off
to your own affairs and never leave them: go and sit in a corner,
and weave syllogisms, and propose them to another. There is not in you
the man who can rule a state.
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