The Value of Things

Some objects are superfluous; others are not worth the price we pay for them, & we regard things as free gifts when they really cost us very dear.

Very often the things that cost nothing cost us the most heavily; thus, I would have you reflect, not only when it is a question of gain, but also when it is a question of loss.

It is not the loss of things

that troubles us

but a Notion of Loss.

So true it is that, each person regards nothing as cheaper, than themselves.

One that owns themselves has lost nothing, however few people are blessed with ownership of self!

You will have less money

Yes & less trouble

Less influence

Yes & less envy.

On Values

Fortune often brings into being commonplace powers, which are born to please the mob; but it holds up for our approval that which is extraordinary by the very fact that fortune makes it rare.

This person, however, of whom you spoke, is still far from the state which people professes to have reached, And if one knew what it meant to be “a good person,” one would not yet believe themselves such; perhaps one would even despair of their ability to become good.

You say, they think ill, of evil people, Well, so do evil people themselves; & there is no worse penalty for vice than the fact that it is dissatisfied with itself, & all its fellows. 

In the case of many people, their vices, being powerless, escape notice; although as soon as the persons in question have become satisfied with their own strength, the vices will be no less daring than those which prosperity has already disclosed.

These people simply lack the means whereby they may unfold their wickedness; Similarly, one can handle even a poisonous snake while it is stiff with cold; the poison is not lacking; it is merely numbed into inaction.

In the case of many people, their cruelty, ambition, & indulgence only lack the favour of Fortune to make them dare crimes that would match the worst.

That their wishes are the same you will in a moment discover, in this way: give them the power equal to their wishes. 

Do you remember how, when you declared that certain people were under your influence, I pronounced them fickle & a bird of passage, & said that you held them not by the foot but merely by a wing?

Was I mistaken?, You grasped them only by a feather; they left it in your hands & escaped; They did not see that in endangering others they were tottering to their own downfall.

They did not reflect how burdensome were the objects which they were bent upon attaining, even if they were not superfluous.

With regards to the objects which we pursue, & for which we strive with great effort, we should note this truth; either there is nothing desirable in them, or the undesirable is preponderant.

Some objects are superfluous; others are not worth the price we pay for them, Yet we do not see this clearly, & we regard things as free gifts when they really cost us very dear. 

Our stupidity may be clearly proved by the fact that we hold that “buying” refers only to the objects for which we pay cash, & we regard as free gifts the things for which we spend our very selves.

These we should refuse to buy, if we were compelled to give in payment for them our houses or profitable estate; but we are eager to attain them at the cost of anxiety, of danger, & of lost honour, personal freedom, & time !

So true it is that, each person regards nothing as cheaper, than themselves.

Let us act, in all our plans & conduct, just as we are accustomed to act whenever we approach a huckster who has certain wares for sale; let us see how much we must pay for that which we crave.

Very often the things that cost nothing cost us the most heavily; I can show you many objects the quest & acquisition of which have wrested freedom from our hands.

We should belong to ourselves, if only these things did not belong to us.

I would therefore have you reflect thus, not only when it is a question of gain, but also when it is a question of loss.

This object is bound to perish, Yes, it was a mere extra; you will live without it just as easily as you have lived before.

If you have possessed it for a long time, you lose it after you have had your fill of it; if you have not possessed it long, then you lose it before you have become wedded to it.

Look about you & note the things that drive us mad, which we lose with a flood of tears; you will perceive that it is not the loss that troubles us with reference to these things, but a notion of loss.

No one feels that they have been lost, however their mind tell them that it has been so.

One that owns themselves has lost nothing, however few people are blessed with ownership of self!

You will have less money

Yes & less trouble

Less influence

Yes & less envy.

Farewell, Seneca, StoicTaoist.