As in a voyage, when the ship is at anchor, if you
go on shore to get water, you may amuse yourself
with picking up a shell-fish or a truffle in your way,
but your thoughts ought to be bent towards the ship,
and perpetually attentive, lest the captain should call,
and then you must leave all these things, that you
may not have to be carried on board the vessel,
bound like a sheep; thus likewise in life, if, instead
of a truffle or shell-fish, such a thing as a wife or a
child be granted you, there is no objection; but if
the captain calls, run to the ship, leave all these
things, and never look behind. But if you are old,
never go far from the ship, lest you should be missing
when called for.
The Works of Epictetus: His Discourses, in Four Books, the Enchiridion, and Fragments. Epictetus. Thomas Wentworth Higginson. translator. New York. Thomas Nelson and Sons. 1890.
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