On the Happy Life Chapter 2

Cum de beata vita agetur, non est quod mihi illud discessionum more respondeas : " Haec pars maior esse videtur." Ideo enim peior est. Non tam bene cum rebus humanis agitur, ut meliora pluribus placeant ; argumentum pessimi turba est. Quaeramus ergo, quid optimum factu sit, non quid usitatissimum, et quid nos in possessione felicitatis aeternae constituat, non quid vulgo, veritatis pessimo interpreti, probatum sit. Vulgum autem tam chlamydatos quam coronatos voco; non enim colorem vestium, quibus praetexta sunt corpora, aspicio. Oculis de homine non credo ; habeo melius et certius lumen, quo a falsis vera diiudicem. Animi bonum animus inveniat. Hic, si umquam respirare illi et recedere in se vacaverit, o quam sibi ipse verum tortus a se fatebitur ac dicet : " Quicquid feci adhuc infectum esse mallem, quicquid dixi cum recogito, mutis invideo, quicquid optavi inimicorum exsecrationem puto, quicquid timui, di boni, quanto levius fuit quam quod concupii ! Cum multis inimicitias gessi et in gratiam ex odio, si modo ulla inter malos gratia est, redii ; mihi ipsi nondum amicus sum. Omnem operam dedi, ut me multitudini educerem et aliqua dote notabilem facerem. Quid aliud quam telis me opposui et malevolentiae quod morderet ostendi ? Vides istos, qui eloquentiam laudant, qui opes sequuntur, qui gratiae adulantur, qui potentiam extollunt ? Omnes aut sunt hostes aut, quod in aequo est, esse possunt. Quam magnus mirantium tam magnus invidentium populus est. Quin potius quaero aliquod usu bonum, quod sentiam, non quod ostendam ? Ista, quae spectantur, ad quae consistitur, quae alter alteri stupens monstrat, foris nitent, introrsus misera sunt."

When we are considering a happy life, you cannot answer me as though after a division of the House, “This view has most supporters;” because for that very reason it is the worse of the two: matters do not stand so well with mankind that the majority should prefer the better course: the more people do a thing the worse it is likely to be. Let us therefore inquire, not what is most commonly done, but what is best for us to do, and what will establish us in the possession of undying happiness, not what is approved of by the vulgar, the worst possible exponents of truth. By “the vulgar” I mean both those who wear woollen cloaks and those who wear crowns; for I do not regard the colour of the clothes with which they are covered: I do not trust my eyes to tell me what a man is: I have a better and more trustworthy light by which I can distinguish what is true from what is false: let the mind find out what is good for the mind. If a man ever allows his mind some breathing space and has leisure for communing with himself, what truths he will confess to himself, after having been put to the torture by his own self! He will say, “Whatever I have hitherto done I wish were undone: when I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people: whatever I have longed for seems to have been what my enemies would pray might befall me: good heaven, how far more endurable what I have feared seems to be than what I have lusted after. I have been at enmity with many men, and have changed my dislike of them into friendship, if friendship can exist between bad men: yet I have not yet become reconciled to myself. I have striven with all my strength to raise myself above the common herd, and to make myself remarkable for some talent: what have I effected save to make myself a mark for the arrows of my enemies, and show those who hate me where to wound me? Do you see those who praise your eloquence, who covet your wealth, who court your favour, or who vaunt your power? All these either are, or, which comes to the same thing, may be your enemies: the number of those who envy you is as great as that of those who admire you; why do I not rather seek for some good thing which I can use and feel, not one which I can show? these good things which men gaze at in wonder, which they crowd to see, which one points out to another with speechless admiration, are outwardly brilliant, but within are miseries to those who possess them.”

Quand c’est de la vie heureuse qu’il s’agit, ne va pas, comme lorsqu’on se partage pour aller aux voix, me répondre : « Ce côté-ci paraît le plus nombreux. » Par là même il est le moins sage. L’humanité n’est pas tellement favorisée que le meilleur parti plaise au plus grand nombre : le pire se reconnaît à la foule qui le suit . Cherchons ce qu’il y a de mieux à faire, non ce qui est le plus habituel, ce qui met en possession d’une félicité stable, non ce qu’approuve le vulgaire, le plus sot interprète de la vérité ; et j’entends par vulgaire aussi bien le chœur en chlamydes que les porteurs de couronnes . Car ce n’est pas à la couleur du vêtement dont le corps s’enveloppe que s’arrêtent mes yeux ; je ne juge pas l’homme sur leur témoignage : j’ai un flambeau meilleur et plus sûr pour démêler le faux du vrai. Le mérite de l’âme, c’est à l’âme à le trouver. Oh ! si jamais il lui était loisible de respirer et de se retirer en elle-même et de s’imposer une torture salutaire, comme elle se confesserait la vérité et s’écrierait : « Tout ce que j’ai fait jusqu’ici, j’aimerais mieux ne l’avoir point fait ; quand je me rappelle tout ce que j’ai dit, je porte envie aux êtres muets ; tous les vœux que j’ai formés sont à mes yeux des imprécations d’ennemis ; tout ce que j’ai craint, ô dieux ! m’eût valu mieux mille fois que ce que j’ai désiré ! J’ai eu des inimitiés avec bien des hommes ; puis de la guerre je suis revenu à la paix, s’il est une paix possible entre méchants, et je n’ai pu encore rentrer en grâce avec moi-même. Je me suis consumé en efforts pour me tirer des rangs du vulgaire, pour me signaler par quelque mérite : qu’ai-je obtenu, que de m’exposer aux traits de la malveillance, que d’indiquer où l’on me pouvait mordre ? » Ces hommes que tu vois préconiser l’éloquence, courtiser la fortune, adorer le crédit, exalter le pouvoir, sont tous des ennemis ou, ce qui revient au même, peuvent le devenir. Tout ce grand nombre d’admirateurs n’est qu’un grand nombre d’envieux.