From Epictetus Discourses Book IV, Chapter 4:

“Come forward and tell us! when was your sleep more tranquil, now or before you became Caesar’s friend?

At once the answer comes, ‘Cease, by the gods I beg you, to mock at my fortune; you do not know what a miserable state is mine; no sleep comes near to me, but in comes some one to say, “Now he’s awake, now he’ll be coming out”; then troubles and cares assail me.’

Tell me, when did you dine more agreeably, now or before?

Hear again what he says about this: if he is not invited, he is distressed, and if he is invited he dines as a slave with his lord, anxious all the while for fear he should say or do something foolish.

For my thoughts on this, visit my post at bubblews.com.