Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus - Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (novels to read for beginners .TXT) 📗

Books; No Longer Distract Thyself: It Is Not

Allowed; But As If Thou Wast Now Dying,  Despise The Flesh; It Is Blood

And Bones And Network,  A Contexture Of Nerves,  Veins,  And Arteries. See

The Breath Also,  What Kind Of A Thing It Is; Air,  And Not Always The

Same,  But Every Moment Sent Out And Again Sucked In. The Third,  Then,  Is

The Ruling Part; Consider Thus: Thou Art An Old Man; No Longer Let This

Be A Slave,  No Longer Be Pulled By The Strings Like A Puppet To Unsocial

Movements,  No Longer Be Either Dissatisfied With Thy Present Lot,  Or

Shrink From The Future.

 

3. All That Is From The Gods Is Full Of Providence. That Which Is From

Fortune Is Not Separated From Nature Or Without An Interweaving And

Involution With The Things Which Are Ordered By Providence. From Thence

All Things Flow; And There Is Besides Necessity,  And That Which Is For

The Advantage Of The Whole Universe,  Of Which Thou Art A Part. But That

Is Good For Every Part Of Nature Which The Nature Of The Whole Brings,

And What Serves To Maintain This Nature. Now The Universe Is Preserved,

As By The Changes Of The Elements So By The Changes Of Things Compounded

Of The Elements. Let These Principles Be Enough For Thee; Let Them

Always Be Fixed Opinions. But Cast Away The Thirst After Books,  That

Thou Mayest Not Die Murmuring,  But Cheerfully,  Truly,  And From Thy Heart

Thankful To The Gods.

 

4. Remember How Long Thou Hast Been Putting Off These Things,  And How

Often Thou Hast Received An Opportunity From The Gods,  And Yet Dost Not

Use It. Thou Must Now At Last Perceive Of What Universe Thou Art A

Part,  And Of What Administrator Of The Universe Thy Existence Is An

Efflux,  And That A Limit Of Time Is Fixed For Thee,  Which If Thou Dost

Not Use For Clearing Away The Clouds From Thy Mind,  It Will Go And Thou

Wilt Go,  And It Will Never Return.

 

5. Every Moment Think Steadily As A Roman And A Man To Do What Thou Hast

In Hand With Perfect And Simple Dignity,  And Feeling Of Affection,  And

Freedom,  And Justice,  And To Give Thyself Relief From All Other

Thoughts. And Thou Wilt Give Thyself Relief If Thou Doest Every Act Of

Thy Life As If It Were The Last,  Laying Aside All Carelessness And

Passionate Aversion From The Commands Of Reason,  And All Hypocrisy,  And

Self-Love,  And Discontent With The Portion Which Has Been Given To Thee.

Thou Seest How Few The Things Are,  The Which If A Man Lays Hold Of,  He

Is Able To Live A Life Which Flows In Quiet,  And Is Like The Existence

Of The Gods; For The Gods On Their Part Will Require Nothing More From

Him Who Observes These Things.

 

6. Do Wrong[A] To Thyself,  Do Wrong To Thyself,  My Soul; But Thou Wilt

No Longer Have The Opportunity Of Honoring Thyself. Every Man's Life Is

Sufficient.+ But Thine Is Nearly Finished,  Though Thy Soul Reverences

Not Itself,  But Places Thy Felicity In The Souls Of Others.

 

    [A] Perhaps It Should Be,  "Thou Art Doing Violence To Thyself."

    [Greek: Hybrizeis] Not [Greek: Hybrize].

 

7. Do The Things External Which Fall Upon Thee Distract Thee? Give

Thyself Time To Learn Something New And Good,  And Cease To Be Whirled

Around. But Then Thou Must Also Avoid Being Carried About The Other Way;

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For Those Too Are Triflers Who Have Wearied Themselves In Life By Their

Activity,  And Yet Have No Object To Which To Direct Every Movement,  And,

In A Word,  All Their Thoughts.

 

8. Through Not Observing What Is In The Mind Of Another A Man Has Seldom

Been Seen To Be Unhappy; But Those Who Do Not Observe The Movements Of

Their Own Minds Must Of Necessity Be Unhappy.

 

9. This Thou Must Always Bear In Mind,  What Is The Nature Of The Whole,

And What Is My Nature,  And How This Is Related To That,  And What Kind Of

A Part It Is Of What Kind Of A Whole,  And That There Is No One Who

Hinders Thee From Always Doing And Saying The Things Which Are According

To The Nature Of Which Thou Art A Part.

 

10. Theophrastus,  In His Comparison Of Bad Acts--Such A Comparison As

One Would Make In Accordance With The Common Notions Of Mankind--Says,

Like A True Philosopher,  That The Offenses Which Are Committed Through

Desire Are More Blamable Than Those Which Are Committed Through Anger.

For He Who Is Excited By Anger Seems To Turn Away From Reason With A

Certain Pain And Unconscious Contraction; But He Who Offends Through

Desire,  Being Overpowered By Pleasure,  Seems To Be In A Manner More

Intemperate And More Womanish In His Offences. Rightly,  Then,  And In A

Way Worthy Of Philosophy,  He Said That The Offence Which Is Committed

With Pleasure Is More Blamable Than That Which Is Committed With Pain;

And On The Whole The One Is More Like A Person Who Has Been First

Wronged And Through Pain Is Compelled To Be Angry,  But The Other Is

Moved By His Own Impulse To Do Wrong,  Being Carried Towards Doing

Something By Desire.

 

11. Since It Is Possible[A] That Thou Mayest Depart From Life This Very

Moment,  Regulate Every Act And Thought Accordingly.[B] But To Go Away

From Among Men,  If There Are Gods,  Is Not A Thing To Be Afraid Of,  For

The Gods Will Not Involve Thee In Evil; But If Indeed They Do Not Exist,

Or If They Have No Concern About Human Affairs,  What Is It To Me To Live

In A Universe Devoid Of Gods Or Devoid Of Providence? But In Truth They

Do Exist,  And They Do Care For Human Things,  And They Have Put All The

Means In Man's Power To Enable Him Not To Fall Into Real Evils. And As

To The Rest,  If There Was Anything Evil,  They Would Have Provided For

This Also,  That It Should Be Altogether In A Man's Power Not To Fall

Into It. Now That Which Does Not Make A Man Worse,  How Can It Make A

Man's Life Worse? But Neither Through Ignorance,  Nor--Having The

Knowledge But Not The Power To Guard Against Or Correct These Things,  Is

It Possible That The Nature Of The Universe Has Overlooked Them; Nor Is

It Possible That It Has Made So Great A Mistake,  Either Through Want Of

Power Or Want Of Skill,  That Good And Evil Should Happen

Indiscriminately To The Good And The Bad. But Death Certainly,  And Life,

Honor And Dishonor,  Pain And Pleasure,--All These Things Equally Happen

To Good Men And Bad,  Being Things Which Make Us Neither Better Nor

Worse. Therefore They Are Neither Good Nor Evil.

 

    [A] Or It May Mean,  "Since It Is In Thy Power To Depart;" Which

    Gives A Meaning Somewhat Different.

 

    [B] See Cicero,  Tuscul.,  I. 49.

 

12. How Quickly All Things Disappear,--In The Universe The Bodies

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Themselves,  But In Time The Remembrance Of Them. What Is The Nature Of

All Sensible Things,  And Particularly Those Which Attract With The Bait

Of Pleasure Or Terrify By Pain,  Or Are Noised Abroad By Vapory Fame; How

Worthless,  And Contemptible,  And Sordid,  And Perishable,  And Dead They

Are,--All This It Is The Part Of The Intellectual Faculty To Observe. To

Observe Too Who These Are Whose Opinions And Voices Give Reputation;

What Death Is,  And The Fact That,  If A Man Looks At It In Itself,  And By

The Abstractive Power Of Reflection Resolves Into Their Parts All The

Things Which Present Themselves To The Imagination In It,  He Will Then

Consider It To Be Nothing Else Than An Operation Of Nature; And If Any

One Is Afraid Of An Operation Of Nature,  He Is A Child. This,  However,

Is Not Only An Operation Of Nature,  But It Is Also A Thing Which

Conduces To The Purposes Of Nature. To Observe Too How Man Comes Near To

The Deity,  And By What Part Of Him,  And When This Part Of Man Is So

Disposed+ (Vi. 28).

 

13. Nothing Is More Wretched Than A Man Who Traverses Everything In A

Round,  And Pries Into The Things Beneath The Earth,  As The Poet[A] Says,

And Seeks By Conjecture What Is In The Minds Of His Neighbors,  Without

Perceiving That It Is Sufficient To Attend To The Daemon Within Him,  And

To Reverence It Sincerely. And Reverence Of The Daemon Consists In

Keeping It Pure From Passion And Thoughtlessness,  And Dissatisfaction

With What Comes From Gods And Men. For The Things From The Gods Merit

Veneration For Their Excellence; And The Things From Men Should Be Dear

To Us By Reason Of Kinship; And Sometimes Even,  In A Manner,  They Move

Our Pity By Reason Of Men's Ignorance Of Good And Bad; This Defect Being

Not Less Than That Which Deprives Us Of The Power Of Distinguishing

Things That Are White And Black.

 

    [A] Pindar,  In The Theaetetus Of Plato. See Xi. 1.

 

14. Though Thou Shouldest Be Going To Live Three Thousand Years And As

Many Times Ten Thousand Years,  Still Remember That No Man Loses Any

Other Life Than This Which He Now Lives,  Nor Lives Any Other Than This

Which He Now Loses. The Longest And Shortest Are Thus Brought To The

Same. For The Present Is The Same To All,  Though That Which Perish Is

Not The Same;+[A] And So That Which Is Lost Appears To Be A Mere

Moment. For A Man Cannot Lose Either The Past Or The Future: For What A

Man Has Not,  How Can Any One Take This From Him? These Two Things Then

Thou Must Bear In Mind; The One,  That All Things From Eternity Are Of

Like Forms And Come Round In A Circle,  And That It Makes No Difference

Whether A Man Shall See The Same Things During A Hundred Years,  Or Two

Hundred,  Or An Infinite Time; And The Second,  That The Longest Liver And

He Who Will Die Soonest Lose Just The Same. For The Present Is The Only

Thing Of Which A Man Can Be Deprived,  If It Is True That This Is The

Only Thing Which He Has,  And That A Man Cannot Lose A Thing If He Has It

Not.

 

    [A] See Gataker's Note.

 

15. Remember That All Is Opinion. For What Was Said By The Cynic Monimus

Is Manifest: And Manifest Too Is The Use Of What Was Said,  If A Man

Receives What May Be Got Out Of It As Far As It Is True.