will? Do you not know that there are some persons of a very tender
constitution, who, by constant exercise, surmount the weakness of their
nature, and at length endure fatigues better than they who are naturally
more robust, but have not taken pains to exercise and harden themselves
like the others? Thus, therefore, do not you believe that I, who have
all my life accustomed myself to bear patiently all manner of fatigues,
cannot now more easily submit to this than you, who have never thought of
the matter? If I have no keen desire after dainties, if I sleep little,
if I abandon not myself to any infamous amour, the reason is because I
spend my time more delightfully in things whose pleasure ends not in the
moment of enjoyment, and that make me hope besides to receive an
everlasting reward. Besides, you know very well, that when a man sees
that his affairs go ill he is not generally very gay; and that, on the
contrary, they who think to succeed in their designs, whether in
agriculture, traffic, or any other undertaking, are very contented in
their minds. Now, do you think that from anything whatsoever there can
proceed a satisfaction equal to the inward consciousness of improving
daily in virtue, and acquiring the acquaintance and friendship of the
best of men? And if we were to serve our friends or our country, would
not a man who lives like me be more capable of it than one that should
follow that course of life which you take to be so charming? If it were
necessary to carry arms, which of the two would be the best soldier, he
who must always fare deliciously, or he who is satisfied with what he
finds? If they were to undergo a siege who would hold out longest, he
who cannot live without delicacies, or he who requires nothing but what
may easily be had? One would think, Antiphon, that you believe happiness
to consist in good eating and drinking, and in an expensive and splendid
way of life. For my part, I am of opinion that to have need of nothing
at all is a divine perfection, and that to have need but of little is to
approach very near the Deity, and hence it follows that, as there is