Let us seek something that is a good in more than appearance — something that is solid, constant, and more beautiful in its more hidden part; for this let us delve. And it is placed not far off; you will find it — you need only to know where to stretch out your hand. As it is, just as if we groped in darkness, we pass by things near at hand, stumbling over the very objects we desire.
Not to bore you, however, with tortuous details, I shall pass over in silence the opinions of other philosophers, for it would be tedious to enumerate and refute them all. Do you listen to ours. But when I say “ours,” I do not bind myself to some particular one of the Stoic masters; I, too, have the right to form an opinion. Accordingly, I shall follow so-and-so, I shall request so-and-so to divide the question; [3] perhaps, too, when called upon after all the rest, I shall impugn none of my predecessors’ opinions, and shall say: “I simply have this much to add.” Meantime, I follow the guidance of Nature — a doctrine upon which all Stoics are agreed. Not to stray from Nature and to mould ourselves according to her law and pattern — this is true wisdom.
The happy life, therefore, is a life that is in harmony with its own nature, and it can be attained in only one way. First of all, we must have a sound mind and one that is in constant possession of its sanity; second, it must be courageous and energetic, and, too, capable of the noblest fortitude, ready for every emergency, careful of the body and of all that concerns it, but without anxiety; lastly, it must be attentive to all the advantages that adorn life, but with over-much love for none [4] — the user, but not the slave, of the gifts of Fortune. You understand, even if I do not say more, that, when once we have driven away all that excites or frightens us, there ensues unbroken tranquility and enduring freedom; for when pleasures and fears have been banished, then, in place of all that is trivial and fragile and harmful just because of the evil it works, there comes upon us first a boundless joy that is firm and unalterable, then peace and harmony of the soul and true greatness coupled with kindliness; for all ferocity is born from weakness.