Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

Plutarch and the Greece of His Age
possessions: insight, love of knowledge, virtue, the
consciousness of being and doing right. Not even
the fear of death disquiets the good man, for he knows
that after his dissolution he shall enter into a better
state of existence than this life; the bad man clings
to life because of the dread uncertainty before him
after death. As a last resource, if a man s sufferings
become too great to be endured, he can make an end
of them with his own hand.
To Plutarch, no riches, no purely external posses
sions, are so conducive to peace of mind and cheer
fulness of heart, as a soul that has kept itself free
from evil thoughts and acts. For a soul that has
held itself aloof from contamination every day is a
festival; the world, a temple in which God dwells and
which he has adapted to the fulfilment of man s
wants.
By the proper use of reason men may con
trol their passions and find satisfaction in
the enjoy
ment of what is within their reach. They may reflect
with complacency on the past and look forward to
the future with hope.
rather by the pains
A man s unhappiness
is caused
of the soul than those of the
body. Diseases of the body are due to its nature,
but disease of the soul is man s own work. More
over the maladies of the soul are curable, a
condition
of things that ought to afford us much consolation.
Though the sufferings and diseases to which the
body is subject take many forms, those that a cor
rupt heart and a debased soul send forth, as from a
perennial fountain, are much more numerous.
129
Again.