Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (top 10 inspirational books .TXT) 📗
- Author: Marcus Aurelius
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thyself. For the fault is manifestly thy own, whether thou didst trust
that a man who had such a disposition would keep his promise, or when
conferring thy kindness thou didst not confer it absolutely, nor yet in
such way as to have received from thy very act all the profit. For what
more dost thou want when thou hast done a man a service? art thou not
content that thou hast done something comformable to thy nature, and dost
thou seek to be paid for it? just as if the eye demanded a recompense for
seeing, or the feet for walking. For as these members are formed for a
particular purpose, and by working according to their several
constitutions obtain what is their own; so also as man is formed by
nature to acts of benevolence, when he has done anything benevolent or in
any other way conducive to the common interest, he has acted conformably
to his constitution, and he gets what is his own.
BOOK X.
1. Wilt thou, then, my soul, never be good and simple and one and naked,
more manifest than the body which surrounds thee? Wilt thou never enjoy
an affectionate and contented disposition? Wilt thou never be full and
without a want of any kind, longing for nothing more, nor desiring
anything, either animate or inanimate, for the enjoyment of pleasures?
nor yet desiring time wherein thou shalt have longer enjoyment, or place,
or pleasant climate, or society of men with whom thou mayest live in
harmony? but wilt thou be satisfied with thy present condition, and
pleased with all that is about thee, and wilt thou convince thyself that
thou hast everything, and that it comes from the gods, that everything is
well for thee, and will be well whatever shall please them, and whatever
they shall give for the conservation of the perfect living being, the
good and just and beautiful, which generates and holds together all
things, and contains and embraces all things which are dissolved for the
production of other like things? Wilt thou never be such that thou shalt
so dwell in community with gods and men as neither to find fault with
them at all, nor to be condemned by them?
2. Observe what thy nature requires, so far as thou art governed by
nature only: then do it and accept it, if thy nature, so far as thou art
a living being, shall not be made worse by it. And next thou must observe
what thy nature requires so far as thou art a living being. And all this
thou mayest allow thyself, if thy nature, so far as thou art a rational
animal, shall not be made worse by it. But the rational animal is
consequently also a political [social] animal. Use these rules, then, and
trouble thyself about nothing else.
3. Everything which happens either happens in such wise as thou art
formed by nature to bear it, or as thou art not formed by nature to bear
it. If, then, it happens to thee in such way as thou art formed by nature
to bear it, do not complain, but bear it as thou art formed by nature to
bear it. But if it happens in such wise as thou art not formed by nature
to bear it, do not complain, for it will perish after it has consumed
thee. Remember, however, that thou art formed by nature to bear
everything, with respect to which it depends on thy own opinion to make
it endurable and tolerable, by thinking that it is either thy interest or
thy duty to do this.
4. If a man is mistaken, instruct him kindly and show him his error. But
if thou art not able, blame thyself, or blame not even thyself.
5. Whatever may happen to thee, it was prepared for thee from all
eternity; and the implication of causes was from eternity spinning the
thread of thy being, and of that which is incident to it (III. II; IV.
26).
6. Whether the universe is [a concourse of] atoms, or nature [is a
system], let this first be established, that I am a part of the whole
which is governed by nature; next, I am in a manner intimately related to
the parts which are of the same kind with myself. For remembering this,
inasmuch as I am a part, I shall be discontented with none of the things
which are assigned to me out of the whole; for nothing is injurious to
the part if it is for the advantage of the whole. For the whole contains
nothing which is not for its advantage; and all natures indeed have this
common principle, but the nature of the universe has this principle
besides, that it cannot be compelled even by any external cause to
generate anything harmful to itself. By remembering, then, that I am a
part of such a whole, I shall be content with everything that happens.
And inasmuch as I am in a manner intimately related to the parts which
are of the same kind with myself, I shall do nothing unsocial, but I
shall rather direct myself to the things which are of the same kind with
myself, and I shall turn all my efforts to the common interest, and
divert them from the contrary. Now, if these things are done so, life
must flow on happily, just as thou mayest observe that the life of a
citizen is happy, who continues a course of action which is advantageous
to his fellow citizens, and is content with whatever the state may assign
to him.
7. The parts of the whole, everything, I mean, which is naturally
comprehended in the universe, must of necessity perish; but let this be
understood in this sense, that they must undergo change. But if this is
naturally both an evil and a necessity for the parts, the whole would not
continue to exist in a good condition, the parts being subject to change
and constituted so as to perish in various ways, For whether did Nature
herself design to do evil to the things which are parts of herself, and
to make them subject to evil and of necessity fall into evil, or have
such results happened without her knowing it? Both these suppositions,
indeed, are incredible. But if a man should even drop the term Nature [as
an efficient power], and should speak of these things as natural, even
then it would be ridiculous to affirm at the same time that the parts of
the whole are in their nature subject to change, and at the same time to
be surprised or vexed as if something were happening contrary to nature,
particularly as the dissolution of things is into those things of which
each thing is composed. For there is either a dispersion of the elements
out of which everything has been compounded, or a change from the solid
to the earthy and from the airy to the aerial, so that these parts are
taken back into the universal reason, whether this at certain periods is
consumed by fire or renewed by eternal changes. And do not imagine that
the solid and the airy part belongs to thee from the time of generation.
For all this received its accretion only yesterday and the day before, as
one may say, from the food and the air which is inspired. This, then,
which has received [the accretion], changes, not that which thy mother
brought forth. Hut suppose that this [which thy mother brought forth]
implicates thee very much with that other part, which has the peculiar
quality [of change], this is nothing in fact in the way of objection to
what is said.
8. When thou hast assumed these names, good, modest, true, rational, a
man of equanimity, and magnanimous, take care that thou dost not change
these names; and if thou shouldst lose them, quickly return to them. And
remember that the term Rational was intended to signify a discriminating
attention to every several thing, and freedom from negligence; and that
Equanimity is the voluntary acceptance of the things which are assigned
to thee by the common nature; and that Magnanimity is the elevation of
the intelligent part above the pleasurable or painful sensations of the
flesh, and above that poor thing called fame, and death, and all such
things. If, then, thou maintainest thyself in the possession of these
names, without desiring to be called by these names by others, thou wilt
be another person and wilt enter on another life. For to continue to be
such as thou hast hitherto been, and to be torn in pieces and defiled in
such a life, is the character of a very stupid man and one over-fond of
his life, and like those half-devoured fighters with wild beasts who,
though covered with wounds and gore, still entreat to be kept to the
following day, though they will be exposed in the same state to the same
claws and bites. Therefore fix thyself in the possession of these few
names: and if thou art able to abide in them, abide as if thou wast
removed to certain islands of the Happy. But if thou shalt perceive that
thou fallest out of them and dost not maintain thy hold, go courageously
into some nook where thou shalt maintain them, or even depart at once
from life, not in passion, but with simplicity and freedom and modesty,
after doing this one [laudable] thing at least in thy life, to have gone
out of it thus. In order, however, to the remembrance of these names, it
will greatly help thee if thou rememberest the gods, and that they wish
not to be flattered, but wish all reasonable beings to be made like
themselves; and if thou rememberest that what does the work of a fig-tree
is a fig-tree, and that what does the work of a dog is a dog, and that
what does the work of a bee is a bee, and that what does the work of a
man is a man.
9. Mimi, war, astonishment, torpor, slavery, will daily wipe out those
holy principles of thine. How many things without studying nature dost
thou imagine, and how many dost thou neglect? But it is thy duty so to
look on and so to do everything, that at the same time the power of
dealing with circumstances is perfected, and the contemplative faculty is
exercised, and the confidence which comes from the knowledge of each
several thing is maintained without showing it, but yet not concealed.
For when wilt thou enjoy simplicity, when gravity, and when the knowledge
of every several thing, both what it is in substance, and what place it
has in the universe, and how long it is formed to exist, and of what
things it is compounded, and to whom it can belong, and who are able both
to give it and take it away?
10. A spider is proud when it has caught a fly, and another when he has
caught a poor hare, and another when he has taken a little fish in a net,
and another when he has taken wild boars, and another when he has taken
bears, and another when he has taken Sarmatians. Are not these robbers,
if thou examinest their opinions?
11. Acquire the contemplative way of seeing how all things change into
one another, and constantly attend to it, and exercise thyself about this
part [of philosophy]. For nothing is so much adapted to produce
magnanimity. Such a man has put off the body, and as he sees that he
must, no one knows how soon, go away from among men and leave everything
here, he gives himself up entirely to just doing in all his actions, and
in everything else
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