Place in the book. On the bearability of every adversity — and on the shame if folly succeeds where wisdom stumbles. The discipline of desire (the enduring of what happens).

Nothing unbearable. "Nothing happens to anyone that he is not by nature (πέφυκε) fitted to bear." The Stoic thesis of the bearable: nature (or providence) assigns nothing beyond one's strength — the capacity to bear is built into the very encounter with the event. Cf. the acceptance of what happens.

Even fools endure. The same blows befall others too — and they "remain firm (εὐσταθεῖ) and unharmed (ἀκάκωτος)": either through TERMignorance (ἄγνοια — not grasping what has happened) or through vanity (ἀρέσκεια — wishing to show off a "great spirit," μεγαλοφροσύνη). So one can bear things even without wisdom — on mere ignorance or ostentation.

A shame for wisdom. Hence the sharp conclusion: δεινόν — it is "dreadful" if TERMignorance and vanity should prove stronger than TERMwisdom (φρόνησις). If the fool endures through stupidity and the vain man through swagger, then the wise man's φρόνησις should all the more give him strength to bear anything; less would be a disgrace to reason. A spur: let reason at least equal what is given to folly for free.

Discipline and parallels. The principal discipline is desire (the enduring of adversity); the secondary is assent (right judgment, φρόνησις). Parallel — the Stoic teaching of the bearable.