Letter 17

Throw all that away, if you are wise - or rather, so that you may become wise. Run toward a sound mind at full speed and with all your strength. If anything holds you, untie it or cut it. "My estate is delaying me," you say. "I want to arrange it so that it will be enough for me when I have nothing else to do, so that poverty will not burden me, and I will not burden anyone else." When you say this, you do not seem to know the strength and power of the good you are thinking about. You see the main point, how much philosophy helps, but you do not yet see clearly how its parts work, or how much help it gives us everywhere. To borrow Cicero's word, philosophy "comes to our aid" in the greatest matters and comes down to the smallest ones too. Believe me: call philosophy into consultation. It will advise you not to sit forever over your accounts. You are trying, through this delay, to reach the point where poverty no longer needs to be feared. But what if poverty ought to be desired? Wealth has kept many people away from philosophy. Poverty is light, unencumbered, and free from care. When the trumpet sounds, the poor person knows he is not the one being attacked. When the cry of "Fire!" goes up, he asks how to get out, not what to carry out. If he must sail, the harbor does not thunder with activity on his behalf, and the shore is not disturbed by one man's retinue. No crowd of slaves stands around him, slaves whose mouths require the fertility of lands across the sea. It is easy to feed a few stomachs, if they have been well trained and want nothing except to be filled. Hunger costs little; fastidiousness costs much. Poverty is content to satisfy immediate needs. Why, then, reject philosophy as a housemate, when even a wealthy person in his senses imitates her habits? If you want leisure for the mind, you must either be poor or resemble the poor. Study cannot become healthy unless you are careful about frugality, and frugality is voluntary poverty. So away with excuses like these: "I do not yet have enough; when I reach that amount, I will give myself entirely to philosophy." But this is the very thing that should be secured first, the thing you are postponing and preparing only after everything else. Begin with it. "I want to prepare the means to live," you say. Learn how to prepare yourself at the same time. If anything prevents you from living nobly, nothing prevents you from dying nobly. There is no reason for poverty to call us back from philosophy, not even actual want. Those who are hurrying toward wisdom must endure even hunger. People have endured hunger in sieges, and what reward did their endurance win except that they did not fall under the conqueror's power? How much greater is the promise here: lasting freedom, and fear of neither human being nor God. Should anyone hesitate, even if hungry, to come to this? Armies have endured every kind of shortage. They have lived on roots and endured hunger with foods too foul to name. They suffered all of this for a kingdom - and, more astonishingly, for a kingdom that would belong to someone else. Will anyone hesitate to bear poverty in order to free the mind from madness? So wealth does not have to be acquired first. One can reach philosophy even without travel money. Is that how it is? Once you have everything else, will you then want wisdom too? Will it be the last tool of life, a kind of accessory? No. Whether you have something or nothing, practice philosophy now. If you have something, how do you know you do not already have too much? If you have nothing, seek this before anything else. "But the necessities of life will be lacking." First, they cannot be lacking, because nature asks for very little, and the wise person adapts himself to nature. But if the final necessities close in, he will have long since left life and stopped being a burden to himself. If what keeps life going is narrow and scanty, he will make good use of it; he will not be anxious or troubled beyond what the belly and shoulders require. Free and cheerful, he will laugh at the running about of the rich and at the people hurrying toward riches. He will say, "Why postpone your real life into the far distance? Will you wait for interest to come in, or for profit from trade, or for a place in the will of some wealthy old man, when you can become rich at once? Wisdom pays wealth in ready cash; she gives it to anyone for whom she has made wealth unnecessary." These words are for other people; you are nearer to the rich. Change the age in which you live, and you have too much. What is enough is the same in every age. I could close the letter here, if I had not trained you badly. No one may greet Parthian kings without a gift, and I am not allowed to say farewell to you for free. What then? I will borrow from Epicurus: "For many people, acquiring wealth has not ended their troubles, but only changed them." I am not surprised. The fault is not in the things themselves, but in the mind. The same thing that made poverty burdensome to us makes wealth burdensome too. It makes little difference whether you put a sick person on a wooden bed or a golden one; wherever you move him, he carries his illness with him. In the same way, it makes little difference whether a sick mind is placed among riches or in poverty. Its own trouble follows it. Farewell.

Cast away everything of that sort, if you are wise; nay, rather that you may be wise; strive toward a sound mind at top speed and with your whole strength. If any bond holds you back, untie it, or sever it. “But,” you say, “my estate delays me; I wish to make such disposition of it that it may suffice for me when I have nothing to do, lest either poverty be a burden to me, or I myself a burden to others.” You do not seem, when you say this, to know the strength and power of that good which you are considering. You do indeed grasp the all-important thing, the great benefit which philosophy confers, but you do not yet discern accurately its various functions, nor do you yet know how great is the help we receive from philosophy in everything, everywhere,—how, (to use Cicero’s language,) it not only succours us in the greatest matters but also descends to the smallest. Take my advice; call wisdom into consultation; she will advise you not to sit for ever at your ledger. Doubtless, your object, what you wish to attain by such postponement of your studies, is that poverty may not have to be feared by you. But what if it is something to be desired? Riches have shut off many a man from the attainment of wisdom; poverty is unburdened and free from care. When the trumpet sounds, the poor man knows that he is not being attacked; when there is a cry of “Fire,” he only seeks a way of escape, and does not ask what he can save; if the poor man must go to sea, the harbour does not resound, nor do the wharves bustle with the retinue of one individual. No throng of slaves surrounds the poor man,—slaves for whose mouths the master must covet the fertile crops of regions beyond the sea. It is easy to fill a few stomachs, when they are well trained and crave nothing else but to be filled. Hunger costs but little; squeamishness costs much. Poverty is contented with fulfilling pressing needs. Why, then, should you reject Philosophy as a comrade? Even the rich man copies her ways when he is in his senses. If you wish to have leisure for your mind, either be a poor man, or resemble a poor man. Study cannot be helpful unless you take pains to live simply; and living simply is voluntary poverty. Away, then, with all excuses like: “I have not yet enough; when I have gained the desired amount, then I shall devote myself wholly to philosophy.” And yet this ideal, which you are putting off and placing second to other interests, should be secured first of all; you should begin with it. You retort: “I wish to acquire something to live on.” Yes, but learn while you are acquiring it; for if anything forbids you to live nobly, nothing forbids you to die nobly. There is no reason why poverty should call us away from philosophy,—no, nor even actual want. For when hastening after wisdom, we must endure even hunger. Men have endured hunger when their towns were besieged, and what other reward for their endurance did they obtain than that they did not fall under the conqueror’s power? How much greater is the promise of the prize of everlasting liberty, and the assurance that we need fear neither God nor man! Even though we starve, we must reach that goal. Armies have endured all manner of want, have lived on roots, and have resisted hunger by means of food too revolting to mention. All this they have suffered to gain a kingdom, and,—what is more marvellous,—to gain a kingdom that will be another’s. Will any man hesitate to endure poverty, in order that he may free his mind from madness? Therefore one should not seek to lay up riches first; one may attain to philosophy, however, even without money for the journey. It is indeed so. After you have come to possess all other things, shall you then wish to possess wisdom also? Is philosophy to be the last requisite in life,—a sort of supplement? Nay, your plan should be this: be a philosopher now, whether you have anything or not,—for if you have anything, how do you know that you have not too much already?—but if you have nothing, seek understanding first, before anything else. “But,” you say, “I shall lack the necessities of life.” In the first place, you cannot lack them; because nature demands but little, and the wise man suits his needs to nature. But if the utmost pinch of need arrives, he will quickly take leave of life and cease being a trouble to himself. If, however, his means of existence are meagre and scanty, he will make the best of them, without being anxious or worried about anything more than the bare necessities; he will do justice to his belly and his shoulders; with free and happy spirit he will laugh at the bustling of rich men, and the flurried ways of those who are hastening after wealth, and say: “Why of your own accord postpone your real life to the distant future? Shall you wait for some interest to fall due, or for some income on your merchandise, or for a place in the will of some wealthy old man, when you can be rich here and now. Wisdom offers wealth in ready money, and pays it over to those in whose eyes she has made wealth superfluous.” These remarks refer to other men; you are nearer the rich class. Change the age in which you live, and you have too much. But in every age, what is enough remains the same. I might close my letter at this point, if I had not got you into bad habits. One cannot greet Parthian royalty without bringing a gift; and in your case I cannot say farewell without paying a price. But what of it? I shall borrow from Epicurus: “The acquisition of riches has been for many men, not an end, but a change, of troubles.” I do not wonder. For the fault is not in the wealth, but in the mind itself. That which had made poverty a burden to us, has made riches also a burden. Just as it matters little whether you lay a sick man on a wooden or on a golden bed, for whithersoever he be moved he will carry his malady with him; so one need not care whether the diseased mind is bestowed upon riches or upon poverty. His malady goes with the man. Farewell.

[1] Proice omnia ista, si sapis, immo ut sapias, et ad bonam mentem magno cursu ac totis viribus tende; si quid est quo teneris, aut expedi aut incide. 'Moratur' inquis 'me res familiaris; sic illam disponere volo ut sufficere nihil agenti possit, ne aut paupertas mihi oneri sit aut ego alicui.' [2] Cum hoc dicis, non videris vim ac potentiam eius de quo cogitas boni nosse; et summam quidem rei pervides, quantum philosophia prosit, partes autem nondum satis subtiliter dispicis, necdum scis quantum ubique nos adiuvet, quemadmodum et in maximis, ut Ciceronis utar verbo, 'opituletur' <et> in minima descendat. Mihi crede, advoca illam in consilium: suadebit tibi ne ad calculos sedeas. [3] Nempe hoc quaeris et hoc ista dilatione vis consequi, ne tibi paupertas timenda sit: quid si appetenda est? Multis ad philosophandum obstitere divitiae: paupertas expedita est, secura est. Cum classicum cecinit, scit non se peti; cum aqua conclamata est, quomodo exeat, non quid efferat, quaerit; [ut] si navigandum est, non strepunt portus nec unius comitatu inquieta sunt litora; non circumstat illam turba servorum, ad quos pascendos transmarinarum regionum est optanda fertilitas. [4] Facile est pascere paucos ventres et bene institutos et nihil aliud desiderantes quam impleri: parvo fames constat, magno fastidium. Paupertas contenta est desideriis instantibus satis facere: quid est ergo quare hanc recuses contubernalem cuius mores sanus dives imitatur? [5] Si vis vacare animo, aut pauper sis oportet aut pauperi similis. Non potest studium salutare fieri sine frugalitatis cura; frugalitas autem paupertas voluntaria est. Tolle itaque istas excusationes: 'nondum habeo quantum sat est; si ad illam summam pervenero, tunc me totum philosophiae dabo'. Atqui nihil prius quam hoc parandum est quod tu differs et post cetera paras; ab hoc incipiendum est. 'Parare' inquis 'unde vivam volo.' Simul et parare <te> disce: si quid te vetat bene vivere, bene mori non vetat. [6] Non est quod nos paupertas a philosophia revocet, ne egestas quidem. Toleranda est enim ad hoc properantibus vel fames; quam toleravere quidam in obsidionibus, et quod aliud erat illius patientiae praemium quam in arbitrium non cadere victoris? Quanto hoc maius est quod promittitur: perpetua libertas, nullius nec hominis nec dei timor. Ecquid vel esurienti ad ista veniendum est? [7] Perpessi sunt exercitus inopiam omnium rerum, vixerunt herbarum radicibus et dictu foedis tulerunt famem; haec omnia passi sunt pro regno, quo magis mireris, alieno: dubitabit aliquis ferre paupertatem ut animum furoribus liberet? Non est ergo prius acquirendum: licet ad philosophiam etiam sine viatico pervenire. [8] Ita est? cum omnia habueris, tunc habere et sapientiam voles? haec erit ultimum vitae instrumentum et, ut ita dicam, additamentum? Tu vero, sive aliquid habes, iam philosophare - unde enim scis an iam nimis habeas? -, sive nihil, hoc prius quaere quam quicquam. [9] 'At necessaria deerunt.' Primum deesse non poterunt, quia natura minimum petit, naturae autem se sapiens accommodat. Sed si necessitates ultimae inciderint, iamdudum exibit e vita et molestus sibi esse desinet. Si vero exiguum erit et angustum quo possit vita produci, id boni consulet nec ultra necessaria sollicitus aut anxius ventri et scapulis suum reddet et occupationes divitum concursationesque ad divitias euntium securus laetusque ridebit [10] ac dicet, 'quid in longum ipse te differs? expectabisne fenoris quaestum aut ex merce compendium aut tabulas beati senis, cum fieri possis statim dives? Repraesentat opes sapientia, quas cuicumque fecit supervacuas dedit.' Haec ad alios pertinent: tu locupletibus propior es. Saeculum muta, nimis habes; idem est autem omni saeculo quod sat est. [11] Poteram hoc loco epistulam claudere, nisi te male instituissem. Reges Parthos non potest quisquam salutare sine munere; tibi valedicere non licet gratis. Quid istic? ab Epicuro mutuum sumam: 'multis parasse divitias non finis miseriarum fuit sed mutatio'. [12] Nec hoc miror; non est enim in rebus vitium sed in ipso animo. Illud quod paupertatem nobis gravem fecerat et divitias graves fecit. Quemadmodum nihil refert utrum aegrum in ligneo lecto an in aureo colloces - quocumque illum transtuleris, morbum secum suum transferet -, sic nihil refert utrum aeger animus in divitiis an in paupertate ponatur: malum illum suum sequitur. Vale.