“Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power, whenever thou shalt choose, to retire into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that, by looking into them, he is immediately in perfect tranquillity; and I affirm that tranquillity is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind. Constantly then give to thyself this retreat and renew thyself; and let thy principles be brief and fundamental, which, as soon as thou shalt recur to them, will be sufficient to cleanse the soul completely, and to send thee back free from all discontent with the things to which thou returnest.” “For with what art thou discontented?” he asks himself. The badness of men? The lot that is assigned to thee out of the universe? The clinging of corporal things still to thee? The desire of the thing called fame? Thou hast maxims that will alleviate all these. “This then remains. Remember to retire into this little territory of thine own, and above all do not distract or strain thyself, but be free and look at things as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as a mortal. But amongst the things readiest to thy hand to which thou shalt return, let there be these, which are two: One is that _things_ do not touch the soul, for they are external and immovable; but our perturbations come only from the _opinion_ which is within. The other is that all these things which thou seest change immediately and will no longer be; and constantly bear in mind how many of these changes thou hast already witnessed. The Universe is transformation; life is opinion.” In these last sentences we have the kernel of the Stoic doctrine of resignation. “The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” The mind can weave its own Universe; and with it it rests to weave it a fairyland of ordered goodness and beauty. All things without are fleeting and unstable, shadows that will pass, mists that disappear at dawn. “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” “The aids to nobler life are all within.” Man is but part of the Universe, and his best wisdom is to live in accord with its beautiful harmony, which disposes all things sweetly for the good of all. It would be contrary to the Divine Kosmos, the ordering of the great world-spirit, if what were for the good of all were not for the good of each: