Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 17

Cetera opinione bona sunt et nomen quidem habent commune cum veris, proprietas in illis boni non est. Itaque commoda vocentur et, ut nostra lingua loquar, producta. Ceterum sciamus mancipia nostra esse, non partes; et sint apud nos, sed ita, ut meminerimus extra nos esse. Etiam si apud nos sint, inter subiecta et humilia numerentur propter quae nemo se adtollere debeat. Quid enim stultius quam aliquem eo sibi placere, quod ipse non fecit?

Hors de là sont des biens de convention, ayant même nom que les véritables, sans avoir même vertu. Nommons-les donc des avantages, et, pour parler philosophiquement, des emprunts : sachons du reste qu’ils sont esclaves de l’homme et non point parties de lui-même ; qu’ils soient chez nous, mais à condition, rappelons-nous-le, qu’ils soient hors de nous. Même demeurant chez nous, comptons-les pour des possessions peu dignes et abjectes, dont nul n’a droit de se montrer vain. Car quoi de plus absurde que de s’applaudir de ce qui n’est point notre ouvrage ?

Other things are goods according to opinion, and though they are called by the same name as the true goods, the essence of goodness is not in them. Let us therefore call them “advantages,” and, to use our technical term, “preferred” things. Let us, however, recognize that they are our chattels, not parts of ourselves; and let us have them in our possession, but take heed to remember that they are outside ourselves. Even though they are in our possession, they are to be reckoned as things subordinate and poor, the possession of which gives no man a right to plume himself. For what is more foolish than being self-complacent about something which one has not accomplished by one’s own efforts?