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And, to speak generally, although some of the things which happen against our will do by their very nature bring pain and distress, yet since it is through false opinion that we learn and become accustomed to be disgruntled with the greatest part of them, it is not unprofitable to have the verse of MenanderKock, Com. Att. Frag., iii. p. 52, Frag. 179, from the Epitrepontes; Allinson, p. 127. The translation is that of A. M. Harmon. ever ready against the latter: No harm’s been done you, if you none admit (for what, he means, if they touch neither body nor soul, are such things to you as the low birth of your father, or the adultery of your wife, or the deprivation of a crown or of front seats,The προεδρία was the privilege of sitting in the front seats at public games, or the theatre, or public assemblies, granted to distinguished citizens, foreigners, or magistrates. since when these misfortunes are present a man is not prevented from having both body and soul in the best of condition?); and against those things which seem to pain us by their very nature, as sicknesses, anxieties, and the death of friends and children, we should have ready that famous verse of EuripidesNauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. ², p. 449, Frag. 300, from the Bellerophon; Cf. Boswell’s Life of Johnson, aetat. 45 (vol. i. p. 277 ed. Hill).: Alas! - Yet why alas? Our sufferings Are but what we mortals must endure. For no reasoning so effectively engages the emotional part of us, when it is being borne down and is slipping, as that which reminds us of the common and natural necessity to which man is exposed through his composite and corporeal nature: it is the only hold he gives to Fortune, while in his most vital and important parts he stands secure.
