صفحة 421 من 1391

But is a man in harmony with himself when he is the subject of

these conflicting influences? Is there not rather a contradiction

in him? Let me further ask, whether he is more likely to control

sorrow when he is alone or when he is in company. 'In the latter

case.' Feeling would lead him to indulge his sorrow, but reason

and law control him and enjoin patience; since he cannot know

whether his affliction is good or evil, and no human thing is of

any great consequence, while sorrow is certainly a hindrance to

good counsel. For when we stumble, we should not, like children,

make an uproar; we should take the measures which reason

prescribes, not raising a lament, but finding a cure. And the

better part of us is ready to follow reason, while the irrational

principle is full of sorrow and distraction at the recollection

of our troubles. Unfortunately, however, this latter furnishes

the chief materials of the imitative arts.