Letter 74 — On Virtue as a Refuge from Worldly Distractions (§23)

“I will first state what we Stoics usually reply to these objectors, and then will add what additional answer should, in my opinion, be given. The situation is entirely different in the case of goods whose loss entails some hardship substituted in their place; for example, when good health is impaired there is a change to ill-health; when the eye is put out, we are visited with blindness; we not only lose our speed when our leg-muscles are cut, but infirmity takes the place of speed.”