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It is so; I do not change my opinion: flee the crowd, flee the few, flee even one person. I have no one with whom I would wish you to share yourself. And see what judgment I have of you: I dare entrust you to yourself. Crates, they say, a pupil of this very Stilbo whom I mentioned in the previous letter, when he had seen a young man walking alone in a secluded place, asked what he was doing there by himself. 'I am talking with myself,' he said. To him Crates replied, 'Take care, I beg you, and pay close attention: you are talking with a bad man.'

We are accustomed to keep watch over a grieving or frightened person, lest he make bad use of solitude. There is no one among the imprudent who ought to be left to himself; then they set bad plans in motion, then they contrive future dangers either for others or for themselves, then they arrange their wicked desires; then the mind exposes whatever it had been hiding through fear or shame, then it sharpens boldness, inflames lust, and spurs anger. Finally, the one advantage solitude has — committing nothing to anyone and fearing no informer — is lost for the fool: he betrays himself. So see what I hope from you, or rather what I promise myself — for hope is the name of an uncertain good: I find no one with whom I would rather have you be than with yourself.

I recall how nobly you uttered certain words, how full of strength they were. I immediately congratulated myself and said, 'These words did not come merely from the surface of the lips; these expressions have a foundation. This man is not one of the crowd; he is looking toward salvation.'

Speak in this way, live in this way; see to it that nothing weighs you down. You may release the gods from your old vows and undertake new ones afresh: ask for a good mind, for good health of the soul, and only then for health of the body. Why should you not make these prayers often? Ask the god boldly: you will ask him for nothing that belongs to another.

But so that, according to my custom, I may send my letter with some little gift, this saying that I found in Athenodorus is true: 'Know that you are then freed from all desires when you have reached the point where you ask the god for nothing except what you could ask for openly.' For how great is human madness now! People whisper their most shameful prayers to the gods; if someone brings an ear close, they fall silent, and what they do not want a human being to know, they tell to a god. Consider, then, whether this may be given as sound advice: live among people as though a god were watching; speak with a god as though people were listening. Farewell.