1. I see patience as praised, though there are dissenting views
So what if there was no dissenting view?

2. Therein patience is warranted and obligatory
That which is like necessity is most obligatory

3. So one fortifies oneself with patience
It has impenetrable causes that cannot be breached

4. It is the refuge, saving those hemmed in
By the afflictions of fate, from which there is no refuge

5. I count its means as something no reasonable person
Could object to, if we judge fairly

6. The garment of beauty is a shield against gloating
The remedy for anguish, for which one is praised and rewarded

7. So strange is this thing, these are its means
Yet one abandons what fortune lies within it

8. People may assume that their misery
And patience therein is an inborn trait

9. That they are not like other transient states
Which one who suffers loss handles when he loses

10. If he wishes to be miserable, misery obeys him
If he wishes for patience, patience comes to him unbidden

11. But they are necessary, like things one is tested with
Vanquished, and things that pass

12. They are not as was assumed, but both
Are achievable by every sensible person for a reason

13. The choosing among us handles them, so sometimes
It is willed and comes, or is refused and goes

14. When one needing justification argues with himself
His soul cannot persist in what he wishes for it

15. And beautiful patience assists it
Its afflictions voluntarily come to it to be avoided

16. But if he encourages it with falsehoods it never stops
Battling fate and complaining

17. Thus it makes sacrifices if struck by calamity
And it ends the night distressed if its goal is blocked

18. So let not one who abandons patience excuse himself
By saying that patience cannot be obtained