A life like Jove's. Seneca, Epistles 1.9.16-19
Seneca uses Stilbon to illustrate his take on how to find happiness in adversity. <Latin>.
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Qualis tamen futura est vita sapientis, si sine amicis relinquatur in custodiam coniectus vel in aliqua gente aliena destitutus vel in navigatione longa retentus aut in desertum litus eiectus? Qualis est Iovis, cum resoluto mundo et dis in unum confusis paulisper cessante natura acquiescit sibi cogitationibus suis traditus. Tale quiddam sapiens facit: in se reconditur, secum est.
Quamdiu quidem illi licet suo arbitrio res suas ordinare, se contentus est et ducit uxorem; se contentus et liberos tollit; se contentus est et tamen non viveret si foret sine homine victurus. Ad amicitiam fert illum nulla utilitas sua, sed naturalis irritatio; nam ut aliarum nobis rerum innata dulcedo est, sic amicitiae. Quomodo solitudinis odium est et appetitio societatis, quomodo hominem homini natura conciliat, sic inest huic quoque rei stimulus qui nos amicitiarum appetentes faciat. Nihilominus cum sit amicorum amantissimus, cum illos sibi comparet, saepe praeferat, omne intra se bonum terminabit et dicet quod Stilbon ille dixit, Stilbon quem Epicuri epistula insequitur. Hic enim capta patria, amissis liberis, amissa uxore, cum ex incendio publico solus et tamen beatus exiret, interroganti Demetrio, cui cognomen ab exitio urbium Poliorcetes fuit, num quid perdidisset, omnia inquit bona mea mecum sunt.
Ecce vir fortis ac strenuus! ipsam hostis sui victoriam vicit. Nihil inquit perdidi: dubitare illum coegit an vicisset. Omnia mea mecum sunt: iustitia, virtus, prudentia, hoc ipsum, nihil bonum putare quod eripi possit. Miramur animalia quaedam quae per medios ignes sine noxa corporum transeunt: quanto hic mirabilior vir qui per ferrum et ruinas et ignes inlaesus et indemnis evasit! Vides quanto facilius sit totam gentem quam unum virum vincere? Haec vox illi communis est cum Stoico: aeque et hic intacta bona per concrematas urbes fert; se enim ipse contentus est; hoc felicitatem suam fine designat.
“What sort of life is the wise man going to have, if he is left alone, without friends, condemned to prison, abandoned among a foreign people, confined to close quarters on a long voyage, or cast up upon a deserted shore?” A life like Jove's. When the world lies at rest and the gods make peace, when nature pauses her march for a moment, the lord of all finds repose in his own thoughts. That is just what a wise man does: he takes refuge in his own company.
As long as he is free to manage affairs according to his own judgment, he remains content. Content with himself, he takes a wife. Content with himself, he raises children. He is content, and yet he would not live if his life were to include no other people. No thirst for profit drives him to friendship: instead he follows natural instinct, for friendship is one of those things naturally sweet to us. As nature has given us all a hatred of solitude and a taste for society, where we find reconciliation together, so inside himself the sage finds the instinct that makes us all eager for friendship. Nevertheless, when he becomes very attached to his friends, when he makes them peers, often he finds that every good thing is locked up deep inside us, and he will say what Stilbon said, the same Stilbon that Epicurus opposes in his letter. When his fatherland was captured, his wife and children lost, when he came out alone in the midst of general conflagration—alone but still happy—this Stilbon met Demetrius, known as the Beseiger on account of the cities he wasted (†). “Have you lost anything?” Demetrius asks. “All my goods are with me,” quoth Stilbon.
Behold, a real man! Rough and ready, he conquered even a victorious enemy. “I have lost nothing,” he said, forcing Demetrius to wonder if he had really won. “All my goods are with me.” Justice, virtue, prudence—he is right: we can regard nothing as good if it can be taken away. We marvel at certain animals that pass through the midst of fire without suffering any bodily harm. How much more we should marvel at the man who has escaped sword and fire and ruin unwounded, nay unscathed! Do you see now how it is easier to conquer an entire nation than one man? These words are truly worthy of a Stoic, who, just like Stilbon, carries his goods intact through the smoking ruins of our cities. He is content with himself, and makes this the limit of his happiness.
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(†) Demetrius I of Macedon (337-283 BCE) was the son of Antigonus I, the One-Eyed, one of the diadochs who served under Alexander the Great and ascended to power upon his death. Demetrius and his father originally inherited provinces in Asia Minor whose power they turned against their fellow diadochs in many wars, taking their empire over the sea into Greece proper and Macedon. Driven from Macedon, Demetrius ultimately perished in prison after surrendering to Seleucus in Asia Minor, where he sought to recover the lost provinces of his father. His son Antigonus inherited Macedon and left a ruling lineage there that remained until the Roman conquest (168 BC).