Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus - Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (novels to read for beginners .TXT) 📗
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Way As To Discharge His Duty, And To Trouble Himself About Nothing Else.
He Should Live Such A Life That He Shall Always Be Ready For Death, And
Shall Depart Content When The Summons Comes. For What Is Death? "A
Cessation Of The Impressions Through The Senses, And Of The Pulling Of
The Strings Which Move The Appetites, And Of The Discursive Movements Of
The Thoughts, And Of The Service To The Flesh" (Vi. 28). Death Is Such
As Generation Is, A Mystery Of Nature (Iv. 5). In Another Passage, The
Exact Meaning Of Which Is Perhaps Doubtful (Ix. 3), He Speaks Of The
Child Which Leaves The Womb, And So He Says The Soul At Death Leaves Its
Envelope. As The Child Is Born Or Comes Into Life By Leaving The Womb,
So The Soul May On Leaving The Body Pass Into Another Existence Which Is
Perfect. I Am Not Sure If This Is The Emperor's Meaning. Butler Compares
Story 2 (The Philosophy Of Marcus Aurelius Antonius) Pg 34It With A Passage In Strabo (P. 713) About The Brachmans' Notion Of
Death Being The Birth Into Real Life And A Happy Life, To Those Who Have
Philosophized; And He Thinks Antoninus May Allude To This Opinion.[B]
[A] "All Events Come Alike To All: There Is One Event To The
Righteous And To The Wicked: To The Good And To The Clean And
To The Unclean," &C. (Ecclesiastes, Ix. V. 2); And (V. 3),
"This Is An Evil Among All Things That Are Done Under The Sun,
That There Is One Event Unto All." In What Sense "Evil" Is
Meant Here Seems Rather Doubtful. There Is No Doubt About The
Emperor's Meaning. Compare Epictetus, Enchiridion, C. I., &C.;
And The Doctrine Of The Brachmans (Strabo P. 713, Ed. Cas.):
[Greek: Agathon De Ê Kakon Mêden Einai Tôn Sumbainontôn
Anthrôpois].
[B] Seneca (Ep. 102) Has The Same, Whether An Expression Of His
Own Opinion, Or Merely A Fine Saying Of Others Employed To
Embellish His Writings, I Know Not. After Speaking Of The Child
Being Prepared In The Womb To Live This Life, He Adds, "Sic Per
Hoc Spatium, Quod Ab Infantia Patet In Senectutem, In Alium
Naturae Sumimur Partum. Alia Origo Nos Expectat, Alius Rerum
Status." See Ecclesiastes, Xii. 7; And Lucan, I. 457:--
"Longae, Canitis Si Cognita, Vitae
Mors Media Est."
Antoninus' Opinion Of A Future Life Is Nowhere Clearly Expressed. His
Doctrine Of The Nature Of The Soul Of Necessity Implies That It Does Not
Perish Absolutely, For A Portion Of The Divinity Cannot Perish. The
Opinion Is At Least As Old As The Time Of Epicharmus And Euripides; What
Comes From Earth Goes Back To Earth, And What Comes From Heaven, The
Divinity, Returns To Him Who Gave It. But I Find Nothing Clear In
Antoninus As To The Notion Of The Man Existing After Death So As To Be
Conscious Of His Sameness With That Soul Which Occupied His Vessel Of
Clay. He Seems To Be Perplexed On This Matter, And Finally To Have
Rested In This, That God Or The Gods Will Do Whatever Is Best, And
Consistent With The University Of Things.
Nor, I Think, Does He Speak Conclusively On Another Stoic Doctrine,
Which Some Stoics Practised,--The Anticipating The Regular Course Of
Nature By A Man's Own Act. The Reader Will Find Some Passages In Which
This Is Touched On, And He May Make Of Them What He Can. But There Are
Passages In Which The Emperor Encourages Himself To Wait For The End
Patiently And With Tranquillity; And Certainly It Is Consistent With All
His Best Teaching That A Man Should Bear All That Falls To His Lot And
Do Useful Acts As He Lives. He Should Not Therefore Abridge The Time Of
His Usefulness By His Own Act. Whether He Contemplates Any Possible
Cases In Which A Man Should Die By His Own Hand, I Cannot Tell; And The
Matter Is Not Worth A Curious Inquiry, For I Believe It Would Not Lead
To Any Certain Result As To His Opinion On This Point. I Do Not Think
That Antoninus, Who Never Mentions Seneca, Though He Must Have Known All
About Him, Would Have Agreed With Seneca When He Gives As A Reason For
Suicide, That The Eternal Law, Whatever He Means, Has Made Nothing
Better For Us Than This, That It Has Given Us Only One Way Of Entering
Into Life And Many Ways Of Going Out Of It. The Ways Of Going Out Indeed
Are Many, And That Is A Good Reason For A Man Taking Care Of Himself.[A]
Story 2 (The Philosophy Of Marcus Aurelius Antonius) Pg 35
[A] See Plinius H.N. Ii., C. 7; Seneca, De Provid. C. 6; And
Ep. 70: "Nihil Melius Aeterna Lex," &C.
Happiness Was Not The Direct Object Of A Stoic's Life. There Is No Rule
Of Life Contained In The Precept That A Man Should Pursue His Own
Happiness. Many Men Think That They Are Seeking Happiness When They Are
Only Seeking The Gratification Of Some Particular Passion, The Strongest
That They Have. The End Of A Man Is, As Already Explained, To Live
Conformably To Nature, And He Will Thus Obtain Happiness, Tranquillity
Of Mind, And Contentment (Iii. 12; Viii. 1, And Other Places). As A
Means Of Living Conformably To Nature He Must Study The Four Chief
Virtues, Each Of Which Has Its Proper Sphere: Wisdom, Or The Knowledge
Of Good And Evil; Justice, Or The Giving To Every Man His Due;
Fortitude, Or The Enduring Of Labor And Pain; And Temperance, Which Is
Moderation In All Things. By Thus Living Conformably To Nature The Stoic
Obtained All That He Wished Or Expected. His Reward Was In His Virtuous
Life, And He Was Satisfied With That. Some Greek Poet Long Ago Wrote:--
"For Virtue Only Of All Human Things
Takes Her Reward Not From The Hands Of Others.
Virtue Herself Rewards The Toils Of Virtue."
Some Of The Stoics Indeed Expressed Themselves In Very Arrogant, Absurd
Terms, About The Wise Man's Self-Sufficiency; They Elevated Him To The
Rank Of A Deity.[A] But These Were Only Talkers And Lecturers, Such As
Those In All Ages Who Utter Fine Words, Know Little Of Human Affairs,
And Care Only For Notoriety. Epictetus And Antoninus Both By Precept And
Example Labored To Improve Themselves And Others; And If We Discover
Imperfections In Their Teaching, We Must Still Honor These Great Men Who
Attempted To Show That There Is In Man's Nature And In The Constitution
Of Things Sufficient Reason For Living A Virtuous Life. It Is Difficult
Enough To Live As We Ought To Live, Difficult Even For Any Man To Live
In Such A Way As To Satisfy Himself, If He Exercises Only In A Moderate
Degree The Power Of Reflecting Upon And Reviewing His Own Conduct; And
If All Men Cannot Be Brought To The Same Opinions In Morals And
Religion, It Is At Least Worth While To Give Them Good Reasons For As
Much As They Can Be Persuaded To Accept.
[A] J. Smith In His Select Discourses On "The Excellency And
Nobleness Of True Religion" (C. Vi.) Has Remarked On This
Stoical Arrogance. He Finds It In Seneca And Others. In Seneca
Certainly, And Perhaps Something Of It In Epictetus; But It Is
Not In Antoninus.
Story 3 (The Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antonius) Pg 36
I.
From My Grandfather Verus[A] [I Learned] Good Morals And The Government
Of My Temper.
2. From The Reputation And Remembrance Of My Father,[B] Modesty And A
Manly Character.
3. From My Mother,[C] Piety And Beneficence, And Abstinence, Not Only
From Evil Deeds, But Even From Evil Thoughts; And Further, Simplicity In
My Way Of Living, Far Removed From The Habits Of The Rich.
4. From My Great-Grandfather,[D] Not To Have Frequented Public Schools,
And To Have Had Good Teachers At Home, And To Know That On Such Things A
Man Should Spend Liberally.
[A] Annius Verus Was His Grandfather's Name. There Is No Verb
In This Section Connected With The Word "From," Nor In The
Following Sections Of This Book; And It Is Not Quite Certain
What Verb Should Be Supplied. What I Have Added May Express The
Meaning Here, Though There Are Sections Which It Will Not Fit.
If He Does Not Mean To Say That He Learned All These Good
Things From The Several Persons Whom He Mentions, He Means That
He Observed Certain Good Qualities In Them, Or Received Certain
Benefits From Them, And It Is Implied That He Was The Better
For It, Or At Least Might Have Been: For It Would Be A Mistake
To Understand Marcus As Saying That He Possessed All The
Virtues Which He Observed In His Kinsmen And Teachers.
[B] His Father's Name Was Annius Verus.
[C] His Mother Was Domitia Calvilla, Named Also Lucilla.
[D] Perhaps His Mother's Grandfather, Catilius Severus.
5. From My Governor, To Be Neither Of The Green Nor Of The Blue Party At
The Games In The Circus, Nor A Partisan Either Of The Parmularius Or The
Scutarius At The Gladiators' Fights; From Him Too I Learned Endurance Of
Labor, And To Want Little, And To Work With My Own Hands, And Not To
Meddle With Other People's Affairs, And Not To Be Ready To Listen To
Slander.
6. From Diognetus,[A] Not To Busy Myself About Trifling Things, And Not
To Give Credit To What Was Said By Miracle-Workers And Jugglers About
Incantations And The Driving Away Of Daemons And Such Things; And Not To
Breed Quails [For Fighting], Nor To Give Myself Up Passionately To Such
Things; And To Endure Freedom Of Speech; And To Have Become Intimate
With Philosophy; And To Have Been A Hearer, First Of Bacchius, Then Of
Tandasis And Marcianus; And To Have Written Dialogues In My Youth; And
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