Since we don't have that kind of mental strength, we should at least reduce what we own. This makes us less vulnerable to fortune's attacks. In war, soldiers whose bodies fit inside their armor are safer than those who are so big that they stick out everywhere and get wounded easily. The best amount of property to have is just enough to keep you from being poor — but not much more than that.
Since we, however, have not such strength of mind as this, we ought at any rate to diminish the extent of our property, in order to be less exposed to the assaults of fortune: those men whose bodies can be within the shelter of their armour, are more fitted for war than those whose huge size everywhere extends beyond it, and exposes them to wounds: the best amount of property to have is that which is enough to keep us from poverty, and which yet is not far removed from it.