Let  us  hereafter  mark  ourselves  as  rigidly  on  this
subject  as  we  do  our  scholars  in  arithmetic  and
geography.  They  are  marking  us  all  the  time  on
this  very  point ;  only  they  do  not  call  it  Epicu-
reanism, or  record  the  result  in  figures.  They
register  it  in  slangy  terms  of  their  own  likes
and  dislikes.
The  Stoic:  Fortitude

Second.  Be  a  Stoic,  which  means  keep  your
mind  free  from  all  worry,  anxiety,  and  grief.  You
say,  "That  is  impossible.  The  world  is  full  of
evils  and  we  can't  help  worrying  about  them  and
being  depressed  by  them."  "Yes,  you  can,"  the
Stoic  tells  us ;  for  things  out  there  in  the  exter-
nal world  never  trouble  us.  It  is  only  when  they
get  into  our  minds  that  they  hurt ;  and  whether
they  shall  be  let  into  our  minds  depends  entirely
on  ourselves.  You  make  a  mistake  on  Monday
morning.  That  is  an  external  fact  to  be  acknow-
ledged and  corrected  as  promptly  as  possible.  If
it  makes  you  nervous  all  Monday  afternoon,  and
60


THE  STOIC:  FORTITUDE

takes  away  your  appetite  Monday  evening,  and
keeps  you  awake  Monday  night,  and  starts  you
out  on  Tuesday  morning  enfeebled,  distrustful,
and  consequently  ten  times  as  likely  to  make
mistakes  as  you  were  the  day  before,  that  is  en-
tirely your  own  affair  and,  if  it  happens,  your  own
fault.  You  have  allowed  that  external  fact  that
ought  to  have  been  left  in  the  outside  world,
where  it  belongs,  to  come  in  and  take  possession
of  your  mind  and  drive  out  your  normal  mental,
emotional,  and  physiological  processes.
