The Pleasures of Life | Page 8

and fathomed human Love in its
dawning and crowning joys has not thanked God for a felicity which
indeed 'passeth understanding.' If we had set our fancy to picture a

Creator occupied solely in devising delight for children whom he loved,
we could not conceive one single element of bliss which is not here."
[1] Seneca.
[2] Shelley.
[3] I quote from Whinfield's translation.
[4] Seneca.
[5] Herbert.
[6] Sir T. Browne.
[7] Bacon.
[8] Sir T. Browne.
[9] Bacon.
[10] Rousseau.
[11] Aubrey de Vere.
[12] Epictetus.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Shakespeare.
[15] Emerson.
[16] Seneca.
[17] Bacon.
[18] Epictetus.
[19] The Enigmas of Life.

CHAPTER II
THE HAPPINESS OF DUTY.
"I am always content with that which happens; for I think that what
God chooses is better than what I choose."
EPICTETUS.
"O God, All conquering! this lower earth Would be for men the blest
abode of mirth If they were strong in Thee As other things of this world
well are seen; Oh then, far other than they yet have been, How happy
would men be."
KING ALFRED'S ed. of Boethius's Consolations of Philosophy.
We ought not to picture Duty to ourselves, or to others, as a stern
taskmistress. She is rather a kind and sympathetic mother, ever ready to
shelter us from the cares and anxieties of this world, and to guide us in
the paths of peace.
To shut oneself up from mankind is, in most cases, to lead a dull, as
well as a selfish life. Our duty is to make ourselves useful, and thus life
may be most interesting, and yet comparatively free from anxiety.
But how can we fill our lives with life, energy, and interest, and yet
keep care outside?
Many great men have made shipwreck in the attempt. "Anthony sought
for happiness in love; Brutus in glory; Caesar in dominion: the first
found disgrace, the second disgust, the last ingratitude, and each
destruction." [1] Riches, again, often bring danger, trouble, and
temptation; they require care to keep, though they may give much
happiness if wisely spent.
How then is this great object to be secured? What, says Marcus
Aurelius, "What is that which is able to conduct a man? One thing and

only one--philosophy. But this consists in keeping the daemon [2]
within a man free from violence and unharmed, superior to pains and
pleasures, doing nothing without a purpose, yet not falsely and with
hypocrisy, not feeling the need of another man's doing or not doing
anything; and besides, accepting all that happens, and all that is allotted,
as coming from thence, wherever it is, from whence he himself came;
and, finally, waiting for death with a cheerful mind, as being nothing
else than a dissolution of the elements of which every living being is
compounded." I confess I do not feel the force of these last few words,
which indeed scarcely seem requisite for his argument. The thought of
death, however, certainly influences the conduct of life less than might
have been expected.
Bacon truly points out that "there is no passion in the mind of man so
weak, but it mates and masters the fear of death.... Revenge triumphs
over death, love slights it, honor aspireth to it, grief flieth to it."
"Think not I dread to see my spirit fly Through the dark gates of fell
mortality; Death has no terrors when the life is true; 'Tis living ill that
makes us fear to die." [3]
We need certainly have no such fear if we have done our best to make
others happy; to promote "peace on earth and goodwill amongst men."
Nothing, again, can do more to release us from the cares of this world,
which consume so much of our time, and embitter so much of our life.
When we have done our best, we should wait the result in peace;
content, as Epictetus says, "with that which happens, for what God
chooses is better than what I choose."
At any rate, if we have not effected all we wished, we shall have
influenced ourselves. It may be true that one cannot do much. "You are
not Hercules, and you are not able to purge away the wickedness of
others; nor yet are you Theseus, able to drive away the evil things of
Attica. But you may clear away your own. From yourself, from your
own thoughts, cast away, instead of Procrustes and Sciron, [4] sadness,
fear, desire, envy, malevolence, avarice, effeminacy, intemperance. But
it is not possible to eject these things otherwise than by looking to God
only, by fixing your affections on Him only, by being consecrated by

his commands." [5]
People sometimes think how delightful it would be to be quite free. But
a fish, as Ruskin says, is freer than a man, and as for