and it tends to swell a man's thoughts; but he who does well to the gods cheers his heart with a more glorious hope. If a mortal has been granted health and can live off his own goods, he rivals the most fortunate. There is joy in all human life as long as it lacks disease and helpless deprivation. The rich man desires great things the same way the poor man desires less. But it is not sweet for mortals to get everything easily; they always seek to catch what flees from them. A man whose spirit is whirled about by the lightest ambitions has honor only as long as he lives. Excellence is a difficult struggle, but when the struggle is completed rightly it leaves a man, even when he dies, the enviable ornament of renown.