XIX. Do you retire to these
quieter, safer, greater things! Think you that it is just the same whether you
are concerned in having corn from oversea poured into the granaries, unhurt
either by the dishonesty or the neglect of those who transport it, in seeing
that it does not become heated and spoiled by collecting moisture and tallies
in weight and measure, or whether you enter upon these sacred and lofty studies
with the purpose of discovering what substance, what pleasure, what mode of
life, what shape God has; what fate awaits your soul; where Nature lays us to
rest When we are freed from the body; what the principle is that upholds all
the heaviest matter in the centre of this world, suspends the light on high, carries
fire to the topmost part, summons the stars to their proper changes—and ether
matters, in turn, full of mighty wonders? You really must leave the ground and
turn your mind's eye upon these things! Now while the blood is hot, we must
enter with brisk step upon the better course. In this kind of life there awaits
much that is good to know—the love and practice of the virtues, forgetfulness
of the passions, knowledge of living and dying, and a life of deep repose.
The condition of all who are engrossed is wretched, but most wretched is the
condition of those who labour at engrossments that are not even their own, who
regulate their sleep by that of another, their walk by the pace of another, who
are under orders in case of the freest things in the world—loving and hating. If
these wish to know how short their life is, let them reflect how small a part
of it is their own.
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