Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 8

Exilia, tormenta morbi, bella, naufragia meditare. Potest te patriae, potest patriam tibi casus eripere, potest te in solitudines abigere, potest hoc ipsum, in quo turba suffocatur, fieri solitudo. Tota ante oculos sortis humanae condicio ponatur, nec quantum frequenter evenit, sed quantum plurimum potest evenire, praesumamus animo, si nolumus opprimi nec illis inusitatis velut novis obstupefieri; in plenum cogitanda fortuna est.

Exils, tortures, guerres, maladies, naufrages, pensons à tout cela. Le sort peut ravir le citoyen à la patrie, ou la patrie au citoyen ; il peut le jeter sur une plage déserte ; ces lieux mêmes où s’étouffe la foule peuvent se changer en un désert. Mettons sous nos yeux toutes les chances de l’humaine condition : pressentons par la pensée, je ne dis point les événements ordinaires, mais tous ceux qui sont possibles, si nous voulons n’être pas accablés et ne jamais voir dans la rareté du fait une nouveauté qui stupéfie. Envisageons la destinée sous toutes ses faces.

Exile, the torture of disease, wars, shipwreck, - we must think on these. Chance may tear you from your country or your country from you, or may banish you to the desert; this very place, where throngs are stifling, may become a desert. Let us place before our eyes in its entirety the nature of man’s lot, and if we would not be overwhelmed, or even dazed, by those unwonted evils, as if they were novel, let us summon to our minds beforehand, not as great an evil as oftentimes happens, but the very greatest evil that possibly can happen. We must reflect upon fortune fully and completely.