On Tranquillity of Mind Chapter 15

Sed nihil prodest privatae tristitiae causas abiecisse ; occupat enim nonnumquam odium generis humani. Cum cogitaveris, quam sit rara simplicitas et quam ignota innocentia et vix umquam, nisi eum expedit, fides, et occurrit tot scelerum felicium turba et libidinis lucra damnaque pariter invisa et ambitio usque eo iam se suis non continens terminis, ut per turpitudinem splendeat : agitur animus in noctem et velut eversis virtutibus, quas nec sperare licet nec habere prodest, tenebrae oboriuntur. In hoc itaque flectendi sumus, ut omnia vulgi vitia non invisa nobis sed ridicula videantur et Democritum potius imitemur quam Heraclitum. Hic enim, quotiens in publicum processerat, flebat, ille ridebat ; huic omnia quae agimus miseriae, illi ineptiae videbantur. Elevanda ergo omnia et facili animo ferenda ; humanius est deridere vitam quam deplorare. Adice quod de humano quoque genere melius meretur qui ridet illud quam qui luget ; ille ei spei bonae aliquid relinquit, hic autem stulte deflet quae corrigi posse desperat. Et universa contemplanti maioris animi est qui risum non tenet quam qui lacrimas, quando lenis- simum adfectum animi movet et nihil magnum, nihil severum, ne miserum quidem ex tanto paratu putat. Singula propter quae laeti ac tristes sumus sibi quisque proponat et sciet verum esse quod Bion dixit : omnia hominum negotia simillima initiis esse nec vitam illorum magis sanctam aut severam esse quam conceptum, in nihilum recidere de nihilo natos. Sed satius est publicos mores et humana vitia placide accipere nec in risum nec in lacrimas excidentem; nam alienis malis torqueri aeterna miseria est, alienis delectari malis voluptas inhumana, sicut illa inutilis humanitas flere, quia aliquis filium efferat, et frontem suam fingere. In suis quoque malis ita gerere se oportet, ut dolori tantum des, quantum natura poscit, non quantum consuetudo ; plerique enim lacrimas fundunt, ut ostendant, et totiens siccos oculos habent, quotiens spectator defuit, turpe iudicantes non flere, eum omnes faciant. Adeo penitus hoc se malum fixit, ex aliena opinione pendere, ut in simulationem etiam res simplicissima, dolor, veniat.

Yet we gain nothing by getting rid of all personal causes of sadness, for sometimes we are possessed by hatred of the human race. When you reflect how rare simplicity is, how unknown innocence, how seldom faith is kept, unless it be to our advantage, when you remember such numbers of successful crimes, so many equally hateful losses and gains of lust, and ambition so impatient even of its own natural limits that it is willing to purchase distinction by baseness, the mind seems as it were cast into darkness, and shadows rise before it as though the virtues were all overthrown and we were no longer allowed to hope to possess them or benefited by their possession. We ought therefore to bring ourselves into such a state of mind that all the vices of the vulgar may not appear hateful to us, but merely ridiculous, and we should imitate Democritus rather than Heraclitus. The latter of these, whenever be appeared in public, used to weep, the former to laugh: the one thought all human doings to be follies, the other thought them to be miseries. We must take a higher view of all things, and bear with them more easily: it better becomes a man to scoff at life than to lament over it. Add to this that he who laughs at the human race deserves better of it than he who mourns for it, for the former leaves it some good hopes of improvement, while the latter stupidly weeps over what he has given up all hopes of mending. He who after surveying the universe cannot control his laughter shows, too, a greater mind than he who cannot restrain his tears, because his mind is only affected in the slightest possible degree, and he does not think that any part of all this apparatus is either important, or serious, or unhappy. As for the several causes which render us happy or sorrowful, let every one describe them for himself, and learn the truth of Bion’s saying, “That all the doings of men were very like what he began with, and that there is nothing in their lives which is more holy or decent than their conception.” Yet it is better to accept public morals and human vices calmly without bursting into either laughter or tears; for to be hurt by the sufferings of others is to be for ever miserable, while to enjoy the sufferings of others is an inhuman pleasure, just as it is a useless piece of humanity to weep and pull a long face because some one is burying his son. In one’s own misfortunes, also, one ought so to conduct oneself as to bestow upon them just as much sorrow as reason, not as much as custom requires: for many shed tears in order to show them, and whenever no one is looking at them their eyes are dry, but they think it disgraceful not to weep when every one does so. So deeply has this evil of being guided by the opinion of others taken root in us, that even grief, the simplest of all emotions, begins to be counterfeited.

Mais que sert d’avoir repoussé les causes d’affliction personnelle ? Il est des instants où une sorte d’horreur pour le genre humain nous saisit, à la rencontre de tant de crimes heureux, en voyant combien la simplicité de cœur est rare ; l’innocence peu connue ; la bonne foi, si elle ne profite, presque nulle part ; les gains de la débauche non moins odieux que ses profusions ; la vanité, pressée de franchir ses bornes naturelles jusqu’à vouloir briller par l’infamie. La pensée se perd dans cette nuit ; et de l’écroulement pour ainsi dire des vertus qu’il n’est ni permis d’espérer chez les autres, ni utile de posséder, il ne surgit plus que ténèbres. Il faut donc nous plier à ce tour d’esprit, qui envisage moins l’odieux que le ridicule des vices de l’humanité ; il faut imiter Démocrite plutôt que son adversaire. Héraclite ne pouvait se trouver en public sans verser des larmes, et Démocrite riait sans cesse. Dans tout ce que nous faisons l’un ne voyait que misères, l’autre que puérilités. Il faut tenir peu compte de quoi que ce soit et porter légèrement la vie ; le rire est ici plus humain que les larmes, et c’est mériter mieux de ses semblables de trouver en eux du plaisant que du triste. On leur laisse du moins quelque bon espoir ; mais il y a folie à pleurer ce qu’on désespère de réformer ; et à tout bien considérer, il est plus noble d’être gagné par le rire que par les pleurs. Le rire soulève une des plus légères affections de l’âme, il ne voit rien de grand, de sévère ni même de sérieux dans tout notre vain appareil. Qu’on réfléchisse sur chacune des choses qui nous font gais ou tristes, on sentira combien est vrai ce mot de Bion : « Toutes les affaires qui occupent les hommes sont de vraies comédies, et leur vie n’est ni plus respectable ni plus sérieuse que des embryons mal formés. » Mais le plus sage sera d’accepter tranquillement les mœurs communes et les vices des hommes sans se laisser aller ni aux rires ni aux larmes. Se tourmenter des misères d’autrui, c’est se vouer à d’éternels chagrins ; en faire un sujet de risée serait une jouissance barbare, tout comme c’est une stérile politesse que de verser des pleurs et composer son visage parce que le voisin enterre son fils. Et aussi, dans tes chagrins personnels, ne donne à la douleur que ce qu’exige non l’usage , mais la raison. Car le grand nombre ne verse de larmes que pour être vu ; elles tarissent quand les témoins s’en vont ; on croit malséant de ne pas pleurer quand tout le monde pleure. Elle est tellement invétérée en nous cette fausse honte qui nous assujettit à l’opinion, que la chose la plus naturelle, la douleur, arrive elle-même à l’affectation.