HOW THEN do men act? As though one returning to his country who
had sojourned for the night in a fair inn, should be so captivated
thereby as to take up his abode there.
“Friend, thou hast forgotten thine intention! This was not thy
destination, but only lay on the way thither.”
“Nay, but it is a proper place.”
“And how many more of the sort there be; only to pass through
upon thy way! Thy purpose was to return to thy country; to relieve
thy kins men’s fears for thee; thy self to discharge the duties of a
citizen; to marry a wife, to beget offspring, and to fill the appointed
round of office. Thou didst not come to choose out what places are
most pleasant; but rather to return to that wherein thou wast born
and where thou wert appointed to be a citizen.”
II, The Golden Saying of Epictetus
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