Plutarch illustrates the journey of life with its goods and evils, examining the desire for power, the love of politics, adultery, death, prostitution, the need for divine essence, war, idleness, and malice.

He concludes that the peace of the soul is a matter of perspective on how you see things and is achieved when you place good above evil, when you place pleasure above discomfort, and when you place beauty above ugliness, since you can never avoid the dark side of life.