[20,0] THE TWENTIETH DISCOURSE : ON RETIREMENT.
(1) JUST what, pray, is the meaning of the word 
'retirement,' and whom should we define as men who 
are `retiring ' ? Is it those who are giving up their 
proper tasks and activities of whom we should say 
that they are retiring? For example, if some one 
enjoying Athenian citizenship, when the obligation 
falls on him to serve in the field in defence of his 
country because the Spartans have invaded Attica, 
or Philip is attacking them, or some other enemy, 
should retire or withdraw to Megara or Aegina in 
order to avoid serving or risking his life, could this 
man be described as having retired ?  Of if some one 
who possesses a great fortune should for the sake of 
avoiding the public services required of the rich  
leave the city ? Or if a man who is qualified to heal the 
sick, and then when the sick are friends and intimates 
of his, should abandon them and go on a visit to some 
other place in order to avoid catching the disease 
and the trouble of treating them? Or if somebody 
else, on being required to present himself for public
duty in the city along with the rest, should be 
unwilling to hold an office or assist those in office or 
do any service as guard which would necessitate his 
losing sleep, but in order to be rid of all these duties 
and not let even one man call him to account or 
hinder him from drinking and sleeping and loafing, 
should retire to some other place—should these men 
be described as `retiring' ? No, these men are 
evidently fleeing and deserting, and there can be no 
excuse for them or pardon for taking a vacation in this 
manner and running away.
(3) It may be, then, that it is those who withdraw 
from unprofitable enterprises and time-consuming 
activities which do not properly concern them, and 
who get themselves some leisure from useless annoyances, 
that should be defined as `retiring.' But if 
that is right, it is not the man who has moved from 
some city to another one or from one place to another 
that could be described as `retiring.' For wherever 
he goes, there will be many things getting in his 
way and not allowing him to do the things which 
properly concern him. For the fact is that spending 
much time in somebody's company and in continual 
drinking, or dicing, or in doing some other harmful 
and unprofitable thing are practices to be met with 
everywhere—and wasting all one's time in palavering 
with anyone you happen to meet, and in listening 
to talk that is utterly futile, or spending your time 
discoursing about the affairs of the Emperor or of 
what's his name, as some one has said. For the fool 
is not master of his own soul, but is whirled this way 
and that and is easily led by any chance pretext or 
association.
Consequently the majority of men are just like 
spendthrifts, who would be unable to render an 
accounting for the money they have spent, explaining 
what they have spent each several item for, although 
enormous sums have clearly been expended : so 
neither could these men render an accounting for 
their time and their past life, nor explain for what 
they have spent each day, or month, or year, although 
life is clearly passing by and time being spent, this 
being of no little value to man, of no less value to him, 
in my opinion, than money. 

[20,5] But all the same, 
when one drachma has been lost, the man cannot 
help noticing it and being in some way distressed; 
and if a person loses several, there are not many 
who remain undisturbed by such a matter. I do 
not mean that they are pained and hurt because 
of their carelessness and because they failed to give 
heed to avoid such conduct as should properly have 
hurt them, but simply at the loss of the drachmas. 
But when a day is gone and lost, or two or three of 
them, there is no one who gives that a thought ! 
Yet in the one case they are able to reckon thus 
much : that if they fail to give heed and take thought 
of such matters, all their property may slip away 
and be lost without their noticing it. But in the 
matter we are now discussing, men are not able to 
apply the same method of reckoning in order to reach 
the same conclusions, to wit, that if they do not take 
thought for each day and watch lest they aimlessly 
throw it away, their whole life may slip away and be 
lost before they know it.
(7) But clearly it is not the place where you are nor 
this going abroad that affords an escape from doing 
sundry trivial things, nor is it even one's having
retired to Corinth or to Thebes, but rather the 
being occupied with one's own self, when one so 
wishes. For in Thebes and in Megara, yes, anywhere 
almost that one may go, whether in Greece or in 
Italy, it is possible for one to live in idleness and to 
take one's ease; and one will not lack a pretext, 
wherever he happens to be, for spending quite a good 
deal of time, if it so happens, in busying one's self 
with affairs as well as in loafing. I am therefore 
inclined to think that the best and most profitable 
kind of retirement is retirement into oneself and 
giving attention to one's own concerns, whether one 
happens to be in Babylon, or in Athens, or in a 
military camp, or alone on a little island. For 
retirements and sojournings abroad of the kind we 
have mentioned conduce very little to one's having 
leisure and doing only what one ought to do. Sick 
persons, for instance, by changing from one bed to 
another do sometimes get a little relief, but certainly 
not enough nor such as would rid them of their 
malady. And we often see how even in the midst of 
a very great turmoil and throng the individual is not 
hampered in carrying on his own occupation ; but, 
on the contrary, the man who is playing the flute 
or teaching a pupil to play it devotes himself to that, 
often holding school in the very street, and the crowd
does not distract him at all, nor the din made by the 
passers-by ; and the dancer likewise, or dancing 
master, is engrossed in his work, being utterly heedless 
of those who are fighting and selling and doing 
other things ; and so also with the harper and the 
painter. But here is the most extreme case of all: 
The elementary teachers sit in the streets with their 
pupils, and nothing hinders them in this great throng 
from teaching and learning. 

[20,10] And I remember once seeing, 
while walking through the Hippodrome, 
many people on one spot and each one doing something 
different : one playing the flute, another 
dancing, another doing a juggler's trick, another 
reading a poem aloud, another singing, and another 
telling some story or myth ; and yet not a single 
one of them prevented anyone else from attending to 
his own business and doing the work that he had in hand.
(11) However, you will object, there is none of these 
occupations that concentrates the mind, steadies it, 
and causes it to look with disdain upon all other 
things ; and education, apparently, and philosophy, 
which best accomplish this, do require great seclusion 
and retirement; and, just as the sick, unless there is 
silence and quiet all about them, are unable to get 
any sleep, so, you see, it is with seekers after learning 
—unless everybody about them is quiet, and unless 
there is nothing distracting to be seen or heard, 
their mind will find it impossible to give attention 
to its own affairs and to concentrate on these.
(12) Yet I for my part notice that people who live
by the sea are not affected by its sounds, but are 
able to put their minds on anything they like, 
that they speak and listen and sleep when they feel 
that the time has come for these things, because 
they think that the sound is no concern of theirs 
and so do not mind it. But if they did care to take 
notice when the roar increased or diminished, or to 
count the waves that break upon the shore, or to 
watch the gulls and other birds, how they alight on 
the waves and float easily on them, they would not 
have time to do anything else.
(13) So, too, the man who can bring himself to reflect 
in regard to the crowds and the din they cause and 
their various affairs, that these things differ not one 
whit from what takes place on the sea, will not be 
troubled by any of them. Nay, we have in this, it 
would seem, a very valuable lesson and bit of instruction
—that we should accustom the mind to follow 
reason  and not to let it be diverted to any other thing 
whatsoever than the matters which are before it and 
thought to be fitting. And when we have thus 
accustomed the mind by reason will be able to accomplish 
all its proper work ; but the mind that spins 
this way and that and fidgets and turns to one thing 
after another, whenever anything comes in sight at 
any time which offers some pleasure or relaxation, like 
water that turns in every way as it chances on a piece 
of uneven ground, will derive no benefit whatever 
from even perfect quiet and seclusion.

[20,15] I myself know that when well trained  and willing
dogs are unleashed, they straightway pick up the 
trail, and not even if all the hunters should try 
to call them back, would they ever leave it ; no, 
not even if many voices from all sides should reach 
them, and many odours emanating from the fruits 
and flowers should be mingled with the scent, and a 
great host of men and other creatures should come to 
view, and tracks of horses here and of cattle or sheep 
there. Such a dog sees none of these things, notices 
none of them, but disregarding all those other things, 
picks out the trail on all sides and follows it until 
she finds and puts up the hare ; and after this she 
keeps up the pursuit, no matter what country she 
has to pass through, and neither plain nor road nor 
exceedingly rough ground, nor ravine nor stream can 
stop her, in spite of all the doublings the hare makes 
in its attempts to put her off the scent. But ignorant 
and untrained dogs I find are slow to pick up the trail 
and quick to give up the chase, and if a noise reaches 
their ears from any quarter, whether the barking of 
dogs, or the shouting of men, whether wayfarers or 
herdsmen, they straightway lift their noses from the 
trail and rush off in that direction. For all these 
things, just as I have said, habit is responsible. And 
in the sam way the mind also should be made 
accustomed never to turn aside or withdraw from what 
it regards as its proper work. Otherwise it will not 
be easy to rise above one's surroundings or to 
accomplish anything satisfactorily.
(17) Or is it not in wildernesses and places undisturbed 
by sounds, or chiefly there, that foolish men, trying 
not to concentrate their thoughts upon the essential
things, have conjured up many strange imaginings, 
things amid which they yearn to live, shaping for 
themselves in fancy sovereign power and riches and 
other such marvels ? Some dig up treasures of gold 
and silver and thus suddenly come into possession 
of an enormous quantity of them ; and others 
make themselves emperors and absolute rulers of 
cities and nations, then straightway putting into 
practice everything that goes with a tyranny : putting 
some to death and banishing others, making 
free with any virgins or boys or matrons that they 
choose, and taking part in the most costly banquets 
and feasts ; others put out money on usury or 
engage in other enterprises, dreaming all kinds of 
bright dreams to themselves just as if they were 
wide awake with their eyes open. Aye, and sometimes, 
to be sure, as the result of these dreams there 
comes for them the most trivial and absurd awakening 
from such dreams ! For tyrannies are not at all 
likely to spring from such things, since a tyranny is 
not apt to be sought by a mind that is slothful and 
in a sense always asleep, but on the contrary, by 
keen and unsleeping thought. But lavish expenditures, 
love intrigues, and such like adventures 
have undoubtedly often fallen to the lot of many.
(19) I may cite Alexander  as an instance : I fancy 
that, when he happened to be enjoying a respite from 
his herdsman's duties on Mount Ida, the thought and 
with it the desire came to him, what a fortunate and 
blissful thing it world be to have the most beautiful 
woman in the whole world to wife, and that neither 
a throne was as valuable as this prize, nor wealth, 
nor the conquest of the whole world in war ; next he
began to speculate as to who and where this woman 
of his fancy might be, among what people she lived, 
and by what means he could compass so splendid 
an alliance ; 

[20,20] and so he began to despise the nymphs 
and maidens of Ilium with a prince's disdain and to 
think them not Worth his winning, and in the same 
way also he despised the women of Lydia and 
Phrygia, and those in Lesbos and Mysia. But 
learning that in Sparta there was a certain reputed 
daughter of Zeus, living in wedlock with Menelaus, 
a king in his own right and brother of the king of all 
Greece, a woman whom the first and foremost of the 
Greeks had wooed and sought to win by offering 
many wedding-gifts and presents and, to crown all, 
that she had, according to report, brave brothers 
twain, Polydeuces and Castor, true sons of Zeus. 
So he coveted this woman for his wife. Now in the 
ordinary course of events he thought that this was not 
at all feasible, but that if some god should promise 
and give her, so wild an ambition might perhaps be 
realized. What goddess, then, he asked himself, 
was likely to grant favours of this kind other than 
she who held authority and ruled over all that pertained 
to marriage and to love? Therefore, if she 
offered him this bride, he thought the marriage not 
impossible. How, then, could he persuade her to 
grant him this favour unless in some way he should 
ingratiate himself with the goddess by giving her 
some boon or favour ? But he reflected that she did 
not stand in need of wealth, since she was ` golden '
and possessed all the wealth in the world, absolutely ;
nor sacrifices either, since all men everywhere offered 
her sacrifice ; nor would she readily heed anything 
else one might say or any mere petition. But if, 
he thought, one were to present her with the thing 
which she desired most of all, what she had 
looked upon as the most valuable thing in the world, 
and should bear witness for her that she was the 
most beautiful goddess, perhaps she would consent. 
Then to win the victory and to be preferred in this 
contest of beauty—over what divinity, he asked 
himself, would she think she could afford to prevail 
except over the foremost and greatest of them, 
Athena and Hera ? And this would be all the more 
so if these two should put in an appearance, offering 
great and wonderful gifts for the sake of winning. 
So after canvassing the matter in this way and 
elaborating his own imagining and conceit, like a 
soul which in its sleep follows out its phantasies and 
imaginings and spins out some long and coherent 
dream, he is appointed by Zeus, he fancies, umpire 
over the goddesses ; and as to the other goddesses, 
he disregarded both their persons and their gifts, 
and chose the third in return for the bribe and gift 
of winning that woman as wife who had been the 
object of his thoughts and for whom he had prayed.
If, then, he had been nothing more than a herdsman 
and a commoner in rank, no trouble would 
have come to him from that ambitions dream. But 
as it was, since he was of kingly blood and a mighty 
prince, and of great influence owing to his wealth and 
the dominion over the greatest city of those days, 
and the affection which his parents bore for him, he 
forthwith realized the rest of his dream, just as if the 
first part had actually happened; and after building
ships and assembling a retinue, he sailed for Greece 
and Sparta, entered the home of Menelaus and 
Helen, where he was hospitably received, induced 
her to leave her husband and Hellas, and then 
returned to his home, bringing into Troy the beginning 
of many grievous troubles and disasters.
(24) Thus, whereas the thoughts and desires of the soul 
of a man in private station and without influence 
are wind-begotten and ineffectual, and no difficulty 
arises from them, but just as real dreams are gone 
at once when the dreamers rise from their beds, and 
no part of them can endure the sun or the day, as 
the saying is, so it is with desires and hopes of this 
kind ; yet those of monarchs, on the other hand, or 
of men of wealth or of those who possess some other 
power, quite often reach a fulfilment that is both 
grievous and terrible. 

[20,25] And this sort of thing, in my 
opinion, is just like wind-begotten products of generation. 
For they do indeed say that some eggs are 
produced in this way without the intercourse and 
impregnation of the male seed, and they are called 
wind-eggs as if begotten by a gust of wind. And 
this is the reason, as it seems to me, why even Homer, 
in the belief that it was not impossible or incredible 
that a wind-begotten breed of horses should have 
appeared to men, said that the North Wind, becoming 
enamoured of some Trojan mares, impregnated them 
with his seed so that a breed of horses came from 
them. In like manner, what begins with a mistaken 
and impossible idea often ends in an accomplished fact.
All that I have said follows from that initial 
digressive remark that the mind should accustom 
itself to do and think what is essential to it everywhere, 
even in a perfect din as well as in perfect 
quiet. Otherwise seclusion and quiet offer no advantage 
and no greater safeguard, for men who are 
fools, to keep them from conceiving and committing 
many strange and wicked deeds.