Moral: Fortune alone cannot destroy our happiness, but vice can make us miserable even without the influence of fortune.
According to Plutarch, Fortune and Vice once had a fierce debate about which of them had more power to make people unhappy. Fortune claimed she could strip men of all external goods and bring misfortune upon them.
Vice replied, “True, but without my help, you cannot make them completely miserable. However, I can render them utterly wretched, even without your intervention, regardless of your efforts to make them happy.”
