. . . you should pray for a sound mind in a sound body.
Ask for a heart that is courageous, with no fear of death,
that reckons long life among the least of Nature's gifts,
that can put up with any anguish, that is unfamiliar with anger,
that longs for nothing, that prefers the troubles and
gruelling labours of Hercules to the sex and feasts and
downy cushions of Sardanapallus. I'm showing you
something you can give yourself. There is no doubt
that the only peaceful life lies through goodness.
Fortune, you'd have no power, if we were sensible:
it's we who make you a goddess,
it's we who give you a place in the sky.
Juvenal, Satire 10, lines 356-366,
(Trans. Susanna Morton Braund, Loeb Classical Library)
A historical note: Sardanapaulus according to
Diodorus "the thirtieth from Ninus, and the last King of Assyria, exceeded all his in sloth and luxury;" and therefore incited his own overthrow.) h/t
Wikipedia.
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