Letter 56 — On Quiet and Study (§12)

“The mind which starts at words or at chance sounds is unstable and has not yet withdrawn into itself; it contains within itself an element of anxiety and rooted fear, and this makes one a prey to care, as our Vergil says: I, whom of yore no dart could cause to flee, Nor Greeks, with crowded lines of infantry. Now shake at every sound, and fear the air, Both for my child and for the load I bear.”