Surely I had given you such weapons as would keep you safe, and your strength unconquered; if you had not thrown them away.Do you know me? Why do you keep silence? Are you dumb from shame or from dull amazement? I would it were from shame, but I see that amazement has overwhelmed you.'
When she saw that I was not only silent, but utter]y tongue-tied and dumb, she put her hand gently upon my breast, and said,' There is no danger: he is suffering from drowsiness, that disease which attacks so many minds which have been deceived.He has forgotten himself for a moment and will quickly remember, as Page 6soon as he recognises me.That he may do so, let me brush away from his eyes the darkening cloud of thoughts of matters perishable.' So saying, she gathered her robe into a fold and dried my swimming eyes.
Then was dark night dispelled, the shadows fled away, and my eyes received returning power as before.'Twas just as when the heavenly bodies are enveloped by the west wind's rush, and the sky stands thick with watery clouds; the sun is hidden and the stars are not yet come into the sky, and night descending from above o'erspreads the earth: but if the north wind smites this scene, launched forth from the Thracian cave, it unlocks the imprisoned daylight; the sun shines forth, and thus sparkling Phoebus smites with his rays our wondering eyes.
In such a manner were the clouds of grief scattered.Then I drew breath again and engaged my mind in taking knowledge of my physician's countenance.So when I turned my eyes towards her and fixed my gaze upon her, I recognised my nurse, Philosophy, in whose chambers I had spent my life from earliest manhood.And I asked her,' Wherefore have you, mistress of all virtues, come down from heaven above to visit my lonely place of banishment? Is it that you, as well as I, may be harried, the victim of false charges? ' 'Should I,' said she,' desert you, my nursling? Page 7Should I not share and bear my part of the burden which has been laid upon you from spite against my name? Surely Philosophy never allowed herself to let the innocent go upon their journey unbefriended.Think you I would fear calumnies? that I would be terrified as though they were a new misfortune?
Think you that this is the first time that wisdom has been harassed by dangers among men of shameless ways? In ancient days before the time of my child, Plato, have we not as well as nowadays fought many a mighty battle against the recklessness of folly? And though Plato did survive, did not his master, Socrates, win his victory of an unjust death, with me present at his side? When after him the followers of Epicurus, and in turn the Stoics, and then others did all try their utmost to seize his legacy, they dragged me, for all my cries and struggles, as though to share me as plunder;they tore my robe which I had woven with mine own hands, and snatched away the fragments thereof: and when they thought I had altogether yielded myself to them, they departed.And since among them were to be seen certain signs of my outward bearing, others ill-advised did think they wore my livery:
thus were many of them undone by the errors of the herd of uninitiated.
But if you have not heard of the exile of Anaxagoras, 17:1 -- Anaxagoras went into exile from Athens about 450 B.C.Page 8nor the poison drunk by Socrates, 1 nor the torture of Zeno, 2 which all were of foreign lands, yet you may know of Canius, 3 Seneca, 4 and Soranus, 5 whose fame is neither small nor passing old.Naught else brought them to ruin but that, being built up in my ways, they appeared at variance with the desires of unscrupulous men.So it is no matter for your wonder if, in this sea of life, we are tossed about by storms from all sides; for to oppose evil men is the chief aim we set before ourselves.Though the band of such men is great in numbers, yet is it to be contemned: for it is guided by no leader, but is hurried along at random only by error running riot everywhere.If this band when warring against us presses too strongly upon us, our leader, Reason, gathers her forces into her citadel, while the enemy are busied in plundering useless baggage.As they seize the most worthless things, we laugh at them from above, untroubled by the whole band of mad marauders, and we are defended by that rampart to which riotous folly may not hope to attain.
'He who has calmly reconciled his life to fate, and set proud death beneath his feet, can 8:1 -- Socrates was executed by the Athenian state, B.C.399.
8:2 -- Zeno of Elea was tortured by Nearchus, tyrant of Elea, about 440 B.C.
8:3 -- Canius was put to death by Caligula, c.A.D.40.
8:4 -- Seneca was driven to commit suicide by Nero, A.D.66.
8:5 -- Soranus was condemned to death by Nero, A.D.66.Page 9look fortune in the face, unbending both to good and bad: his countenance unconquered he can shew.The rage and threatenings of the sea will not move him though they stir from its depths the upheaving swell: Vesuvius's furnaces may never so often burst forth, and he may send rolling upwards smoke and fire; the lightning, whose wont it is to smite down lofty towers, may flash upon its way, but such men shall they never move.Why then stand they wretched and aghast when fierce tyrants rage in impotence? Fear naught, and hope naught: thus shall you have a weak man's rage disarmed.But whoso fears with trembling, or desires aught from them, he stands not firmly rooted, but dependent: thus has he thrown away his shield; he can be rooted up, and he links for himself the very chain whereby he may be dragged.
'Are such your experiences, and do they sink into your soul?' she asked.' Do you listen only as "the dull ass to the lyre"? Why do you weep? Wherefore flow your tears? " Speak, nor keep secret in thine heart." If you expect a physician to help you, you must lay bare your wound.'
