Epictetus his Morals, with Simplicius his comment made English from the Greek, by George Stanhope ...

COMMENT.

THis Chapter seems to me to be misplaced, and would be more Methodical, if set be∣fore the former, and immediately after that which begins with these Words, If you see a Neighbour in Tears, &c. For having told us there, that a Man ought not to be too sensibly affected with the excessive Passion of those who think themselves unhappy for the loss of any of the Comforts of this World, nor sympathize so far, as to imagine that such a one is really Mi∣serable upon any of these Accounts, since a Man's Happiness or his Wretchedness does not consist in any outward Prosperous or Adverse

Events, but purely in the use of his own Free-Will, and the Practice or Neglect of what God and Nature have made entirely the Object of his own Choice and Power; here he adds, that if any inauspicious Bird, or other Omen seem to foretel Mischief and Ill-luck, this ought not to terrify or discompose us. But though we should suppose them to carry any ill portent to our Bodies or our Fortunes, yet we must distin∣guish between these and our selves, and consi∣der, that our own Happiness and Misery de∣pends upon our own Disposal, and can come from nothing but our selves.

Do but resolve then not to make your self unhappy, and all the most direful Significations of Misfortune, and all the Misfortunes conse∣quent to those Significations shall never be a∣ble to do it. Your Body, 'tis true, may be Sick, or Dye; your Reputation may be Blasted, your Estate Destroyed or Wasted, your Wife or Children taken from you; but still all this does not reach your Self; that is, your Reason∣ing Mind. This can never be Miserable, nay, it must and will be Happy, in despight of all these Ill-bodings, except you consent to your own Wretchedness: For all your Good and E∣vil depends wholly upon your self.

Nay, which is more, and the greatest Secu∣rity imaginable, these very Misfortunes shall conspire to render you yet more Happy; for out of this Bitter, you may gather Sweetness, and convert what is generally mistaken for Mi∣sery, to your own mighty Benefit. And the greater those Calamities are, the more conside∣rable will the Advantage be, provided you ma∣nage

them prudently, and behave your self de∣cently under them. Now it is plain from hence, that these are not Evils, (properly speaking,) for whatever is so, must always do hurt, and can never change its Nature so far, as to con∣tribute to any good effect. Since then these may be so ordered, as to become subservient to your Good, and since no Ill can come to you, but what your self must be instrumental in, and accessary to, you must of necessity grant, that all Omens, and all the Evils threatned by them, are not, cannot be Evils to you your self, un∣less you please to make them so; and that all they can pretend to, is to affect something that belongs, or bears some distant Relation to you.