The Ship and the Inn

6 Do not be elated at any excellence that is not your own. If a horse in its elation said, "I am beautiful", it could be borne; but when you say in your elation, "I have a beautiful horse", know that you are elated at a good that belongs to the horse. What, then, is yours? The use of impressions. So when you behave in accordance with nature in the use of impressions, then be elated; for then you will be elated at a good of your own.

7 When a ship has put in at a harbour and you go ashore to fetch water, you may pick up a little shellfish or a bulb on the way, as a side matter; but you must keep your mind fixed on the ship and turn round constantly, in case the captain calls; and if he calls, you must leave all those things, so as not to be thrown on board bound, like the sheep. So too in life: if instead of a bulb and a little shellfish you are given a wife and a child, nothing prevents you from having them. But if the captain calls, run to the ship, leaving all those things behind and not even looking back. And if you are old, do not go far from the ship at all, in case you are missing when he calls.

8 Do not seek for things to happen as you wish, but wish things to happen as they do happen, and your life will flow smoothly.

9 Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to the choice, unless the choice itself wishes it. Lameness is a hindrance to the leg, but not to the choice. Say this to yourself at everything that befalls you; for you will find it a hindrance to something else, but not to yourself.

10 At everything that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and ask what power you have to deal with it. If you see a beautiful man or woman, you will find the power to deal with it: self-control. If toil is laid on you, you will find endurance; if abuse, you will find patience. And if you accustom yourself to this, your impressions will not carry you away.

11 Never say of anything, "I have lost it", but rather, "I have given it back." Has your child died? It has been given back. Has your wife died? She has been given back. "My land has been taken from me." Then that too has been given back. "But the one who took it is wicked." What does it matter to you through whom the giver asked for it back? As long as he gives it to you, take care of it as something that is not your own, as travellers treat an inn.

12 If you want to make progress, give up reasonings like these: "If I neglect my affairs, I shall have nothing to live on"; "If I do not punish my slave boy, he will be bad." It is better to die of hunger free from grief and fear than to live in plenty and be troubled; and it is better for your slave boy to be bad than for you to be unhappy.

Begin, then, with little things. Your oil is spilt, your wine is stolen; say to yourself: "This is the price of freedom from passion, this the price of peace of mind; nothing is had for nothing." And when you call your slave boy, bear in mind that he may not come when called, or, if he comes, may not do anything you want. But he is not so important that your peace of mind should depend on him.

13 If you want to make progress, be content to seem foolish and stupid about external things; do not wish to seem to know anything. And if you seem to some people to be somebody, distrust yourself. For know that it is not easy to keep both your choice in accordance with nature and external things; whoever attends to the one must of necessity neglect the other.

14 If you want your children and your wife and your friends to live for ever, you are foolish; for you want things that are not up to you to be up to you, and things that are not yours to be yours. So too, if you want your slave boy not to do wrong, you are a fool; for you want vice not to be vice, but something else. But if you want not to fail in your desires, that you can do. Practise, then, what you can.

Each person's master is the one who has power over what that person wants or does not want, to give it or take it away. Whoever, then, wants to be free, let him neither want nor avoid anything that depends on others; otherwise he must be a slave.