At what time soever thou wilt, it is in thy power to retire
into thyself, and to be at rest, and free from all businesses.
A man cannot any whither retire better than to his own soul;
he especially who is beforehand provided of such things within,
which whensoever he doth withdraw himself to look in,
may presently afford unto him perfect ease and tranquillity.
By tranquillity I understand a decent orderly disposition
and carriage, free from all confusion and tumultuousness.
Afford then thyself this retiring continually, and thereby refresh
and renew thyself. Let these precepts be brief and fundamental,
which as soon as thou dost call them to mind, may suffice thee
to purge thy soul throughly, and to send thee away well pleased
with those things whatsoever they be, which now again after this
short withdrawing of thy soul into herself thou dost return unto.
For what is it that thou art offended at? Can it be at the
wickedness of men, when thou dost call to mind this conclusion,
that all reasonable creatures are made one for another?
and that it is part of justice to bear with them? and that it
is against their wills that they offend? and how many already,
who once likewise prosecuted their enmities, suspected, hated,
and fiercely contended, are now long ago stretched out,
and reduced unto ashes? It is time for thee to make an end.
As for those things which among the common chances of the world
happen unto thee as thy particular lot and portion, canst thou be
displeased with any of them, when thou dost call that our ordinary
dilemma to mind, either a providence, or Democritus his atoms;
and with it, whatsoever we brought to prove that the whole
world is as it were one city? And as for thy body, what canst
thou fear, if thou dost consider that thy mind and understanding,
when once it hath recollected itself, and knows its own power,