7. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 38.18-38.29 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Asinius Pollio • Asinius Pollio, on Cicero
Found in books: Bua (2019) 108; Keeline (2018) 171
| 38.18. 1. \xa0He accordingly went over to Macedonia and spent his time there in lamentations. But there met him a man named Philiscus, who had made his acquaintance in Athens and now by chance fell in with him again. "Are you not ashamed, Cicero," he said, "to be weeping and behaving like a woman? Really, I\xa0should never have expected that you, who have enjoyed such an excellent and varied education, and who have acted as advocate to many, would grow so faint-hearted.",2. "But," replied the other, "it is not at all the same thing, Philiscus, to speak for others as to advise one\'s self. The words spoken in others\' behalf, proceeding from a mind that is firm and unshaken, are most opportune; but when some affliction overwhelms the spirit, it becomes turbid and darkened and cannot reason out anything that is opportune. For this reason, I\xa0suppose, it has been very well said that it is easier to counsel others than to be strong oneself under suffering.",3. "That is but human nature," rejoined Philiscus. "I\xa0did not think, however, that you, who are gifted with so much sound sense and have practised so much wisdom, had failed to prepare yourself for all human possibilities, so that even if some unexpected accident should befall you, it would not find you unfortified at any point.,4. \xa0But since, now, you are in this plight,\xa0.\xa0.\xa0. for I\xa0might be of some little assistance to you by rehearsing a\xa0few appropriate arguments. And thus, just as men who put a hand to others\'burdens relieve them, so I\xa0might lighten this misfortune of yours, and the more easily than they, inasmuch as I\xa0shall not take upon myself even the smallest part of it.,5. \xa0Surely you will not deem it unbecoming, I\xa0trust, to receive some encouragement from another, since if you were sufficient for yourself, we should have no need of these words. As it is, you are in a like case to Hippocrates or Democedes or any of the other great physicians, if one of them had fallen ill of a disease hard to cure and had need of another\'s aid to bring about his own recovery." 38.19. 1. \xa0"Indeed," said Cicero, "if you have any arguments that will dispel this mist from my soul and restore me to the light of old, I\xa0am most ready to listen. For words, as drugs, are of many varieties, and divers potencies, so that it will not be surprising if you should be able to steep in some mixture of philosophy even me, for all my brilliant feats in the senate, the assemblies, and the law-courts.",2. "Come then," continued Philiscus, "since you are ready to listen, let us consider first whether these conditions that surround you are actually bad, and next in what way we may cure them. First of all, now, I\xa0see you are in excellent physical health and strength, which is surely man\'s chief natural blessing; and, next, that you have the necessities of life in sufficiency,3. \xa0so as not to hunger or thirst or suffer cold or endure any other hardship through lack of means â\x80\x94 which may appropriately be set down as the second natural blessing for man. For when one\'s physical condition is good and one can live without anxiety, all the factors essential to happiness are enjoyed." 38.20. 1. \xa0To this Cicero replied: "But not one of these things is of use when some grief is preying upon one\'s mind; for mental cares cause one far more distress than bodily comforts cause pleasure. Even so, I\xa0also at present set no value on my physical health, because I\xa0am suffering in mind, nor yet on the abundance of necessaries; for my loss is great indeed.",2. "And does this grieve you?" replied the other. "Now if you were going to be in want of things needful, there would be some reason for your being annoyed at your loss. But since you have all necessaries in full measure, why do you distress yourself because you do not possess more? For all that one has beyond one\'s needs is superfluous, and amounts to the same thing whether present or absent; since surely you did not make use formerly of what was not necessary.,3. \xa0Consider, therefore, either that then what you did not need you did not have, or else that you now have what you do not need. Most of these things, indeed, were not yours by inheritance, that you should be particularly exercised about them, but were acquired by your own tongue and by your own words â\x80\x94 the very things which caused you to lose them.,4. \xa0You should not, therefore, be vexed if things have been lost in the same manner in which they were won. Ship-masters, for example, do not take it greatly to heart when they suffer great losses; for they understand, I\xa0suspect, how to take the sensible view of it, namely, that the sea which gives them wealth takes it away again. 38.21. 1. \xa0"So much for the present point; for I\xa0think it should be enough for a man\'s happiness to have a sufficiency and to lack nothing that the body requires, and I\xa0hold that everything in excess involves anxiety, trouble, and jealousy.,2. \xa0As for your saying, now, that there is no enjoyment of physical blessings unless those of the spirit are also present, that is indeed true, since it is impossible, if the spirit is in a poor state, that the body should fail to share in its ailment; nevertheless, I\xa0think it much easier for one to look after his mental health than his physical.,3. \xa0For the body, being of flesh, contains in itself many dangers and requires much assistance from the divine power; whereas the spirit, of a nature more divine, can easily be trained and prompted. Let us see here also, then, what spiritual blessing has abandoned you and what evil had come upon you that we may not shake off. 38.22. 1. \xa0"First, then, I\xa0see that you are a man of the greatest sagacity. The proof is that you so often persuaded both the senate and the people in cases where you gave them advice, and so often helped private citizens in cases where you acted as their advocate. And secondly, I\xa0see that you are a most just man.,2. \xa0Certainly you have always been found contending for your country and for your friends against those who plotted their ruin. Indeed, this very misfortune which you have now suffered has befallen you for no other reason than that you continued to say and do everything in behalf of the laws and of the constitution.,3. \xa0Again, that you have attained the highest degree of self-mastery is shown by your very course of life, since it is not possible for a man who is a slave to sensual pleasures to appear constantly in public and to go to and fro in the Forum, making his deeds by day witnesses of those by night.,4. \xa0This being the case, I,\xa0for my part, supposed you were also very brave, enjoying, as you did, such force of intellect and such power of oratory.,5. \xa0But it seems that, startled out of yourself through having failed contrary to your hopes and deserts, you have fallen a little short of true courage. But you will regain this immediately, and as you are thus equipped as I\xa0have pointed out, with a good physical endowment as well as mental, I\xa0cannot see what it is that is distressing you." 38.23. 1. \xa0At the end of this speech of his Cicero replied: "There seems to you, then, to be no great evil in disfranchisement and exile and in not living at home or being with your friends, but, instead, living in a foreign land, and wandering about with the name of exile, causing laughter to your enemies and disgrace to your friends?",2. "Not in the least, so far as I\xa0can see," declared Philiscus. "There are two elements of which we are constituted, soul and body, and definite blessings and evils are given to each of the two by Nature herself. Now if there should be any defect in these two, it would properly be considered injurious and disgraceful; but if all should be right with them, it would be useful instead.,3. \xa0This is your condition at the present moment. Those things which you mentioned, banishment and disfranchisement, and anything else of the sort, are disgraceful and evil only by convention and a certain popular opinion, and work no injury on either body or soul. What body could you cite that has fallen ill or perished and what spirit that has grow more unjust or even more ignorant through disfranchisement or exile or anything of that sort? I\xa0see none.,4. \xa0And the reason is that no one of these things is by nature evil, just as neither citizenship nor residence in one\'s country is itself excellent, but whatever opinion each one of us holds about them, such they seem to be.,5. \xa0For instance, men do not universally apply the penalty of disfranchisement to the same acts, but certain deeds which are reprehensible in some places are praised in others, and various actions honoured by one people are punished by another. Indeed, some do not so much as know the name, nor the thing which it implies.,6. \xa0And naturally enough; for whatever does not touch that which belong to man\'s nature is thought to have no bearing upon him. Precisely in the same way, therefore, as it would be most ridiculous, surely, if some judgment or decree were to be rendered that So-andâ\x80\x91so is sick or So-andâ\x80\x91so is base, so does the case stand regarding disfranchisement. 38.24. 1. \xa0"The same thing I\xa0find to be true in regard to exile. It is a sojourn abroad involving disfranchisement; so that if disfranchisement in and of itself contains no evil, surely no evil can be attached to exile either.,2. \xa0In fact, many live abroad anyway for very long periods, some unwillingly, but others willingly; and some even spend their whole life travelling about, just as if they were expelled from every place in turn; and yet they do not regard themselves as being injured in doing so.,3. \xa0Nor does it make any difference whether a man does it voluntarily or not; the man who trains his body unwillingly is no less strong than he who does it willingly, and one who goes on a voyage unwillingly obtains no less benefit than another. And as regards this unwillingness itself, I\xa0do not see how it can exist with a man of sense.,4. \xa0Accordingly, if the difference between being well and badly off is that we do some things readily and voluntarily, while we perform others unwillingly and grudgingly, the trouble can easily be remedied. For it we willingly endure all necessary things and allow none of them to conquer us, all those matters in which one might assume unwillingness have been done away with at a single stroke.,5. \xa0There is, indeed, an old saying and a very good one, to the effect that we ought not to demand that whatever we wish should come to pass, but to wish for whatever does come to pass as the result of any necessity. For we neither have free choice in our manner of life nor are we our own masters;,6. \xa0but according as it may suit chance, and according to the character of the fortune granted each one of us for the fulfillment of what is ordained, we must also shape our life. 38.25. 1. \xa0"Such is the nature of the case whether we like it or not. If, now, it is not disfranchisement in itself or exile in itself that troubles you, but the fact that you have not only done your country no injury but have actually benefited her greatly, and yet you have been disenfranchised and expelled, look at it in this way â\x80\x94 that, when once it was destined for you to have such an experience, it has surely been the noblest and the best fortune that could befall you to be despitefully used without having committed any wrong.,2. \xa0For you advised and carried out all that was proper for the citizens, not as an individual but as consul, not meddling officiously in a private capacity but obeying the decrees of the senate, which were not passed as party measures but for the best ends.,3. \xa0This and that person, on the contrary, out of their superior power and insolence devised everything against you; hence they ought to have trouble and sorrow for their injustice, but for you it is noble as well as necessary to bear bravely what Heaven has determined.,4. \xa0Surely you would not prefer to have joined with Catiline and conspired with Lentulus, to have given your country the exact opposite of useful counsel, to have performed none of the duties laid upon you by her, and thus remain at home as the reward of wickedness, instead of saving your country and being exiled.,5. \xa0Accordingly, if you care at all about your reputation, it is far preferable, I\xa0am sure, for you to have been driven out, after doing no wrong, than to have remained at home by performing some base act; for, apart from other considerations, the shame attaches to those who have unjustly cast a man forth, rather than to the man who has been wantonly expelled. 38.26. 1. \xa0"Moreover, the story, as I\xa0heard it, was that you did not depart unwillingly, nor after conviction, but of your own accord; that you hated to live with them, seeing that you could not make them better and would not endure to perish with them, and that you fled, not from your country, but from those who were plotting against her. Consequently it would be they who are dishonoured and banished, having cast out all that is good from their souls,,2. \xa0and it would be you who are honoured and fortunate, as being nobody\'s slave in unseemly fashion but possessing all that is needful, whether you choose to live in Sicily, or in Macedonia, or anywhere else in the world. For surely it is not places that give either success or misfortune of any sort, but each man creates his own country and his own happiness always and everywhere.,3. \xa0This was the feeling of Camillus when he was fain to dwell in Ardea; this was the way Scipio reasoned when he spent his last days in Liternum without grieving. But why mention Aristides or Themistocles, men whom exile rendered more famous, or .\xa0.\xa0. or Solon, who of his own accord left home for ten years?,4. "Therefore, do you likewise cease to consider irksome any such thing as pertains neither to our physical nor to our spiritual nature, and do not vex yourself at what has happened. For to us belongs no choice, as I\xa0told you, of living as we please, but it is absolutely necessary for us to endure what Heaven determines.,5. \xa0If we do this voluntarily, we shall not be grieved; but if involuntarily, we shall not escape at all what is fated, and we shall at the same time acquire the greatest of ills â\x80\x94 the distressing of our hearts to no purpose.,6. \xa0The proof of this is that men who bear good-naturedly the most outrageous fortunes do not regard themselves as being in any very dreadful plight, while those who are disturbed at the lightest disappointments imagine that all human ills are theirs. And people in general, both those who manage favourable conditions badly and those who manage unfavourable conditions well, make their good or ill fortune appear to others to be just what they make it for themselves. 38.27. 1. \xa0Bear this in mind, then, and be not cast down by your present state, nor grieve if you learn that the men who exiled you are flourishing. For the successes of men are vain and ephemeral at best, and the higher a man climbs as a result of them, the more easily, like a breath, does he fall, especially in partisan strife.,2. \xa0Borne along in the midst of troubled and unstable conditions they differ little, if at all, from sailors in a storm, but are tossed up and down, now hither, now thither; and if they make the slightest mistake, they are sure to sink.,3. \xa0Not to mention Drusus, or Scipio, or the Gracchi, or certain others, remember how Camillus, the exile, later came off better than Capitolinus, and remember how greatly Aristides afterwards surpassed Themistocles.,4. "Do you also, then, hope, first and foremost, for your restoration; for you have not been expelled on account of wrong-doing, and the very ones who drove you forth will, as I\xa0learn, seek for you, while all will miss you. But even if you continue in your present state, do not distress yourself at all about it. 38.28. 1. \xa0For if you will take my advice, you will be quite satisfied to pick out a little estate in some retired spot on the coast and there carry on at the same time farming and some historical writing, like Xenophon and like Thucydides.,2. \xa0This form of learning is most enduring and best adapted to every man and to every state; and exile brings with it a kind of leisure that is more fruitful. If, then, you wish to become really immortal, like those historians, emulate them.,3. \xa0You have the necessary means in sufficiency and you lack no distinction. For if there is any virtue in such honours, you have been consul; nothing more belongs to those who have held office a second, a\xa0third, or a\xa0fourth time, except an array of idle letters which benefit no man, living or dead.,4. \xa0Hence you would not choose to be Corvinus, or Marius, the man seven times consul, rather than Cicero. Nor, again, are you anxious for any position of command, seeing that you withdrew from the one bestowed upon you, because you scorned the gains to be had from it, scorned a brief authority that was object to the scrutiny of all who chose to practise blackmail.,5. \xa0These matters I\xa0have mentioned, not because any one of them is requisite for happiness, but because, since it was necessary, you have occupied yourself sufficiently with public affairs to learn therefrom the difference in lives and to choose the one course and reject the other, to pursue the one and avoid the other. Our life is but short, and you ought not to live all yours for others, but by this time to grant a little to yourself.,6. \xa0Consider how much better quiet is than turmoil, and tranquillity than tumults, freedom than slavery, and safety than dangers, that you may feel a desire to live as I\xa0am urging you to do. In this way you will be happy, and your name shall be great because of it â\x80\x94 and that for evermore, whether you are living or dead. 38.29. 1. \xa0"If, however, you are eager for your restoration and aim at a brilliant political career, I\xa0do not wish to say anything unpleasant, but I\xa0fear, as I\xa0cast my eyes over the situation and call to mind your frankness of speech, and behold the power and numbers of your adversaries, that you may meet defeat once more.,2. \xa0If then you should encounter exile, you will have merely to experience a change of heart; but if you should incur some fatal punishment, you will not be able even to repent. And yet is it not a dreadful and disgraceful thing to have one\'s head cut off and set up in the Forum, for any man or woman, it may be, to insult?,3. \xa0Do not hate me as one who prophesies evil to you, but pay heed to me as to one announcing a warning from Heaven. Do not let the fact that you have certain friends among the powerful deceive you. You will get no help against those who hate you from the men who seem to love you, as, indeed, you have learned by experience.,4. \xa0For those who have a passion for power regard everything else as nothing in comparison with obtaining what they desire, and often give up their dearest friends and closest kin in exchange for their bitterest foes."''. None |
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