> Epictetus said something like(I've been trying to refind this quote for twenty years)that if the good lies in our power, our greatest attainment should not be to be consul or praetor, but to be free.
"14. You can be invincible, if you never enter on a contest where victory is not in your power. Beware then that when you see a man raised to honor or great power or high repute you do not let your impression carry you away. For if the reality of good lies in what is in our power, there is no room for envy or jealousy. And you will not wish to be praetor, or prefect or consul, but to be free; and there is but one way to freedom — to despise what is not in our power."
<http://www.humanistictexts.org/epictetus.htm#_Toc483370056>