PREFACE 



You tell me you are delighted, Lucilius, my most i 

 esteemed of friends, with your peaceful government 

 of Sicily. You will continue to be delighted if you 

 are willing to observe the bounds of moderation, and 

 do not try to turn into an empire what is merely a 

 province. Nor do I doubt that this will be your 

 choice, knowing as I do that you are a stranger to 

 ambition, and a friend to a peaceful life of letters. 

 Let those who cannot bear their own company, long 

 for a crowd of affairs and of people ! You are on 

 the best of terms with yourself. It is little wonder 2 

 that few attain such a happy lot. We are always 

 laying commands upon ourselves to our own dis- 

 peace. We suffer at one moment from love of, at 

 another from weariness of, ourselves. Our unhappy 

 soul is now inflamed with pride, now inflated with 

 passion. Sometimes we relax it through indulgence, 

 sometimes we consume it with anxiety. The most 

 pitiable thing of all is that we are never alone 

 with ourselves. So, where such a crowd of vices 3 

 have to mess together, there must be continual 

 wrangling among them. Behave, therefore, my 

 dear Lucilius, as you are wont to behave. Separate 

 yourself as far as possible from the common 

 herd, and expose no side to the attack of flattery. 

 Flatterers are adepts in spreading a net for their 

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