ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 215 



philosophy of Epictetus, which rests upon supposing felicity 

 placed in things within our power, lest we should otherwise be 

 exposed to fortune and contingence, as if it were not much 

 happier to fail of success in just and honorable designs, when 

 that failure makes for the public good, than to secure an unin- 

 terrupted enjoyment of those things which make only for our 

 private fortune. Thus Gonsalvo, at the head of his army, point- 

 ing to Naples, nobly protested he had much rather, by advanc- 

 ing a step, meet certain death, than by retiring a step prolong 

 his life. And to this agrees the wise king, who pronounces " a 

 good conscience to be a continual feast " ; thereby signifying 

 that the consciousness of good intentions, however unsuccess- 

 ful, affords a joy more real, pure, and agreeable to nature, than 

 all the other means that can be furnished, either for obtaining 

 one's desires or quieting the mind. 



It likewise censures that abuse which prevailed about the 

 time of Epictetus, when philosophy was turned into a certain 

 art or profession of life, as if its design were not to com- 

 pose and quiet troubles, but to avoid and remove the causes and 

 occasions thereof, whence a particular regimen was to be en- 

 tered into for obtaining this end, by introducing such a kind of 

 health into the mind as was that of Herodicus in the body, men- 

 tioned by Aristotle,o whilst he did nothing all his life long but 

 take care of his health, and therefore abstained from numberless 

 things, which almost deprived him of the use of his body ; 

 whereas, if men were determined to perform the duties of soci- 

 ety, that kind of bodily health is most desirable which is able to 

 suffer and support all sorts of attacks and alterations. In the 

 same manner, that mind is truly sound and strong which is able 

 to break through numerous and great temptations and dis- 

 orders ; whence Diogenes seems to have justly commended the 

 habit which did not warily abstain, but courageously sustain P 

 which could check the sallies of the soul on the steepest preci- 

 pice, and make it, like a well-broken horse, stop and turn at the 

 shortest warning. 



Lastly, it reproves that delicacy and unsociable temper ob- 

 served in some of the most ancient philosophers of great repute, 

 who too effeminately withdrew from civil affairs, in order to 

 prevent indignities and trouble to themselves, and live the more 

 free and unspotted in their own opinions ; as to which point the 

 resolution of a true moralist should be such as Gonsalvo re- 



