"I'm upset that people pity me," someone says. So is being pitied something that concerns you or the people who pity you? Well, can you stop this pity? I can stop it if I show them I don't need pity. So are you actually in a condition that deserves pity, or aren't you? I think I'm not. But these people don't pity me for things they should pity me for — like my character flaws. Instead, they pity me for my poverty, for not having prestigious jobs, for sickness and death and other things like that.
I am grieved, a man says, at being pitied. Whether then is the fact of your being pitied a thing which concerns you or those who pity you? Well, is it in your power to stop this pity? It is in my power, if I show them that I do not require pity. And whether then are you in the condition of not deserving (requiring) pity, or are you not in that condition? I think that I am not; but these persons do not pity me, for the things for which, if they ought to pity me, it would be proper, I mean, for my faults; but they pity me for my poverty, for not possessing honorable offices, for diseases and deaths and other such things.