First Sentence

"THE doctrine of the genuine Stoics and Platonists, concerning the constancy of the wise man, is no less paradoxical to the vulgar, though perfectly scientific, than the examples which they have given of the endurance of calamity are magnanimous and sublime ; for what to the apprehension of the multitude can be more incredible, than the dogma, that a wise man can neither receive an injury nor contumely ?"