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grievous. For just as it is not possible for one sailing not to be in distress, sailing a great sea, I mean; so too it is not possible for one living this life not to be in despondency, even if you speak of a rich man; for since he is rich, he has many occasions for desires; or even the king himself; for he too is constrained by many things, and does not do all things according to his will, but does many things against his own judgment as favors, and he most of all is the one who does everything he does not want to do. Why is that? Because he has many who wish to receive things from him. And consider in what great despondency he is, when he wishes to do something, but is unable either because of fear, or suspicion, or enemies, or friends? And often, when he has striven to do something of his own choosing, all the pleasure from that action vanished for him, since there were many who were hostile to him. But what? Do you think that those who live a quiet life are in a life pure of grief? It is not so. For just as it is not possible to be immortal while being human, so too it is not possible to be without grief. How many troubles is it likely they endure, which it is not possible to represent in word, but which they alone can know by experience? how many have countless times wished to die in that wealth, and that luxury? For to live in luxury does not in all cases make one free from grief; rather, luxury itself brings forth countless griefs, diseases, discomforts; and apart from these, often when there is no underlying cause. For when the soul is established in such a state, it simply knows how to be in pain. For physicians say that from a weak constitution of the stomach untimely griefs arise. Or does not this also happen among us, when we are in pain, and do not know the cause of the grief? And in general it is not possible to find anyone without grief; and if they do not have as much occasion for grief as we do, nevertheless each one thinks he has it so; for one's own grief pains him more than another's. For just as those who have pain in parts of their bodies think that their neighbors are more fortunate in their pains, and the one who has a disease of the eye considers no other suffering to be like his own; again, the one with a diseased stomach says this is the most difficult of all, and each one considers that by which he is afflicted to be the most grievous of all; so also in the case of despondency, each one says that the grief by which he is afflicted is the most painful; for with 62.605 his own experience he judges this. For instance, he who has no children considers nothing so terrible as childlessness; he who has many children, again, along with poverty, blames nothing so much as having many children; he who has one child, considers nothing worse than having one. For from this, he says, both carelessness arises, and he sets his father in grief, being always doted upon by him, and accepting no correction. He who has a beautiful wife says there is nothing worse than having a beautiful wife; for the matter is full of suspicion and plotting; he who has an ugly one, says there is nothing worse than having an ugly wife; for the matter is filled with displeasure. The private citizen says nothing is more useless than this life, nor more contemptible; the soldier says nothing is more wretched, nor more perilous than military service; for it is better to use only bread and water than to bear so many burdens. He who is in authority says nothing is more laborious than to minister to the needs of others; he who is ruled says nothing is more slavish than to be subject to the authority of others. He who is married says there is nothing worse than a wife and anxiety; he who is not married says nothing is more illiberal than not to marry, and to be deprived of a household and of rest. The merchant calls the farmer blessed for his security; the farmer calls the merchant blessed for his wealth. And in general, the human race is somehow hard to please, fault-finding and melancholy. When he condemns all men, then he says, Man is nothing, saying that the whole of nature is a toiling and wretched creature. How many admire old age? how many call youth blessed? Thus also in the different ages of life there is much despondency.

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λυπηρόν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐκ ἔνι τινὰ πλέοντα μὴ εἶναι ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ, πλέοντα λέγω πέλαγος μέγα· οὕτως οὐδὲ τὸν τοῦτον τὸν βίον ζῶντα οὐχ οἷόν τε μὴ εἶναι ἐν ἀθυμίᾳ, κἂν πλούσιον εἴπῃς· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πλούσιός ἐστι, πολλὰς ἀφορμὰς ἐπιθυμιῶν ἔχει· κἂν αὐτὸν τὸν βασιλέα· καὶ γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπὸ πολλῶν κρατεῖται, καὶ οὐ πάντα κατὰ γνώμην πράττει, ἀλλὰ πολλὰ παρὰ τὸ δοκοῦν αὐτῷ χαρίζεται, καὶ μάλιστα πάντων ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ πάντα πράττων ἃ μὴ θέλει. Τί δήποτε; Ὅτι πολλοὺς ἔχει τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ἐκείνου λαμβάνειν βουλομένους. Ἐννόησον δὲ, ἐν ὅσῃ ἐστὶν ἀθυμίᾳ, ὅταν βούληται μέν τι πράττειν, μὴ δύνηται δὲ ἢ διὰ δέος, ἢ δι' ὑποψίαν, ἢ διὰ πολεμίους, ἢ διὰ φίλους; Πολλάκις δὲ, ὅταν καὶ φιλονεικήσῃ τι πρᾶξαι τῶν αὐτῷ δοκούντων, τὸ πᾶν αὐτῷ τῆς ἡδονῆς ἠφάνισε τῆς ἐκ τῆς πράξεως ἐκείνης, πολλῶν ὄντων τῶν ἀπεχθανομένων αὐτῷ. Ἀλλὰ τί; νομίζεις τοὺς ἀπράγμονα βίον ζῶντας εἶναι ἐν βίῳ λύπης καθαρούς; Οὐκ ἔστιν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν εἶναι ἀθάνατον ἄνθρωπον ὄντα, οὕτως οὐδὲ λύπης χωρίς. Πόσα εἰκὸς ὑπομένειν αὐτοὺς πράγματα, ἃ λόγῳ μὲν παραστῆσαι οὐκ ἔστιν, ἔργῳ δὲ ἐκείνους μόνους δυνατὸν εἰδέναι; πόσοι μυριάκις ηὔξαντο ἀποθανεῖν ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ πλούτῳ, καὶ τῇ τρυφῇ; Τὸ γὰρ τρυφᾷν οὐ πάντως καὶ ἐκτὸς εἶναι λύπης ποιεῖ· μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτὸ τὸ τρυφᾷν μυρίας τίκτει λύπας, νόσους, ἀηδίας· καὶ χωρὶς τούτων, αἰτίας πολλάκις μὴ ὑποκειμένης. Ὅταν γὰρ ἡ ψυχὴ ἐν ἕξει τοιαύτῃ καταστῇ, καὶ ἁπλῶς οἶδεν ἀλγεῖν. Καὶ γὰρ ἰατρῶν λέγουσι παῖδες ὅτι καὶ παρὰ στομάχου κατασκευὴν ἀσθενῆ ἄκαιροι γίνονται λύπαι. Ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν τοῦτο συμπίπτει, ὅταν ἀλγῶμεν, καὶ μὴ εἰδῶμεν τῆς λύπης τὴν ὑπόθεσιν; Καὶ ὅλως οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν τινα λύπης χωρίς· εἰ δὲ οὐ τοσαύτην ἔχουσιν ἀφορμὴν λύπης, ὅσην ἡμεῖς, ὅμως οὕτως ἔχειν ἕκαστος νομίζει· τὸ γὰρ οἰκεῖον μᾶλλον αὐτὸν λυπεῖ τοῦ ἀλλοτρίου. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ τὰ μέρη τῶν σωμάτων ἀλγοῦντες, νομίζουσι τοὺς πλησίον πλεονεκτεῖν ταῖς ἀλγηδόσι, καὶ ὁ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν νοσῶν, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἡγεῖται τοιοῦτον εἶναι πάθος, οἷον τὸ ἑαυτοῦ· πάλιν ὁ τὸν στόμαχον νοσῶν, τοῦτο πάντων χαλεπώτερον εἶναί φησι, καὶ ἕκαστος ἐν ᾧ κατέχεται, τοῦτο πάντων ἀνιαρότερον εἶναι ἡγεῖται· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀθυμίας, ἕκαστος ὑπὸ τῆς λύπης ἧς κατέχεται, ταύτην φησὶν εἶναι ἀλγεινοτέραν· μετὰ 62.605 γὰρ τῆς πείρας τῆς οἰκείας τοῦτο κρίνει. Οἷον, ὁ παῖδας οὐκ ἔχων, οὐδὲν οὕτω δεινὸν νομίζει, ὡς ἀπαιδίαν· ὁ πολλοὺς ἔχων πάλιν μετὰ πενίας, οὐδὲν οὕτως ὡς πολυπαιδίαν αἰτιᾶται· ὁ ἕνα ἔχων, οὐδὲν χεῖρον τοῦ ἕνα ἔχειν νομίζει. Ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ ῥᾳθυμίας γίνεται, καὶ ἐν λύπῃ τὸν πατέρα καθίστησιν, ἀεὶ περιπόθητος αὐτῷ τυγχάνων, καὶ οὐδεμίαν ἐπιστροφὴν δεχόμενος. Ὁ καλὴν ἔχων γυναῖκα, οὐδὲν χεῖρόν φησι τοῦ καλὴν ἔχειν γυναῖκα· ὑποψίας γὰρ τὸ πρᾶγμα γέμει καὶ ἐπιβουλῆς· ὁ δυσειδῆ, οὐδὲν χεῖρόν φησι τοῦ ἄμορφον ἔχειν γυναῖκα· ἀηδίας γὰρ τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐμπέπλησται. Ὁ ἰδιώτης οὐδὲν ἀχρηστότερον τοῦ βίου τούτου φησὶν οὐδὲ εὐτελέστερον· ὁ στρατιώτης οὐδὲν μοχθηρότερόν φησιν, οὐδὲ ἐπισφαλέστερον τῆς στρατείας· βέλτιον γὰρ ἄρτῳ κεχρῆσθαι μόνῳ καὶ ὕδατι, ἢ τοσαύτας φέρειν ἐπαχθείας. Ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν οὐδὲν ἐπιπονώτερόν φησι τοῦ τῶν ἄλλων τὰς ἀνάγκας θεραπεύειν· ὁ ἀρχόμενος οὐδὲν δουλικώτερόν φησιν ἑτέρων ἐξουσίᾳ ὑποκεῖσθαι. Ὁ γεγαμηκὼς οὐδὲν χεῖρόν φησι γυναικὸς καὶ φροντίδος· ὁ μὴ γεγαμηκὼς οὐδὲν ἀνελευθεριώτερόν φησι τοῦ μὴ γαμεῖν, καὶ οἰκίας ἀπεστερῆσθαι καὶ ἀναπαύσεως. Ὁ ἔμπορος τὸν γεωργὸν μακαρίζει τῆς ἀσφαλείας· ὁ γεωργὸς τὸν ἔμπορον τοῦ πλούτου. Καὶ ὅλως δυσάρεστόν πως τὸ γένος τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, μεμψίμοιρον καὶ βαρύθυμόν ἐστιν. Ὅτε πάντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων καταγινώσκει, τότε φησὶν, Οὐδὲν ἄνθρωπος, τὴν πᾶσαν λέγοντες φύσιν ἐπίμοχθον ζῶον καὶ ταλαίπωρον. Πόσοι τὸ γῆρας θαυμάζουσι; πόσοι τὴν νεότητα μακαρίζουσιν; Οὕτω καὶ ταῖς ἡλικίαις πολλὴ ἡ ἀθυμία.