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

Fitness [Harmony].

And As The Universe Is Made Up Out Of All Bodies To Be Such A Body As It

Is,  So Out Of All Existing Causes Necessity [Destiny] Is Made Up To Be

Such A Cause As It Is. And Even Those Who Are Completely Ignorant

Understand What I Mean; For They Say,  It [Necessity,  Destiny] Brought

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This To Such A Person.--This Then Was Brought And This Was Prescribed To

Him. Let Us Then Receive These Things,  As Well As Those Which

Aesculapius Prescribes. Many As A Matter Of Course Even Among His

Prescriptions Are Disagreeable,  But We Accept Them In The Hope Of

Health. Let The Perfecting And Accomplishment Of The Things Which The

Common Nature Judges To Be Good,  Be Judged By Thee To Be Of The Same

Kind As Thy Health. And So Accept Everything Which Happens,  Even If It

Seem Disagreeable,  Because It Leads To This,  To The Health Of The

Universe And To The Prosperity And Felicity Of Zeus [The Universe]. For

He Would Not Have Brought On Any Man What He Has Brought,  If It Were Not

Useful For The Whole. Neither Does The Nature Of Anything,  Whatever It

May Be,  Cause Anything Which Is Not Suitable To That Which Is Directed

By It. For Two Reasons Then It Is Right To Be Content With That Which

Happens To Thee; The One,  Because It Was Done For Thee And Prescribed

For Thee,  And In A Manner Had Reference To Thee,  Originally From The

Most Ancient Causes Spun With Thy Destiny; And The Other,  Because Even

That Which Comes Severally To Every Man Is To The Power Which

Administers The Universe A Cause Of Felicity And Perfection,  Nay Even Of

Its Very Continuance. For The Integrity Of The Whole Is Mutilated,  If

Thou Cuttest Off Anything Whatever From The Conjunction And The

Continuity Either Of The Parts Or Of The Causes. And Thou Dost Cut Off,

As Far As It Is In Thy Power,  When Thou Art Dissatisfied,  And In A

Manner Triest To Put Anything Out Of The Way.

 

    [A] In This Section There Is A Play On The Meaning Of [Greek:

    Sumbainein].

 

[Illustration: The Capitol And Temple Of Jupiter]

 

9. Be Not Disgusted,  Nor Discouraged,  Nor Dissatisfied,  If Thou Dost Not

Succeed In Doing Everything According To Right Principles,  But When

Thou Hast Failed,  Return Back Again,  And Be Content If The Greater Part

Of What Thou Doest Is Consistent With Man's Nature,  And Love This To

Which Thou Returnest; And Do Not Return To Philosophy As If She Were A

Master,  But Act Like Those Who Have Sore Eyes And Apply A Bit Of Sponge

And Egg,  Or As Another Applies A Plaster,  Or Drenching With Water. For

Thus Thou Wilt Not Fail To + Obey Reason,  And Thou Wilt Repose In It.

And Remember That Philosophy Requires Only Things Which Thy Nature

Requires; But Thou Wouldst Have Something Else Which Is Not According To

Nature.--It May Be Objected,  Why,  What Is More Agreeable Than This

[Which I Am Doing]? But Is Not This The Very Reason Why Pleasure

Deceives Us? And Consider If Magnanimity,  Freedom,  Simplicity,

Equanimity,  Piety,  Are Not More Agreeable. For What Is More Agreeable

Than Wisdom Itself,  When Thou Thinkest Of The Security And The Happy

Course Of All Things Which Depend On The Faculty Of Understanding And

Knowledge?

 

10. Things Are In Such A Kind Of Envelopment That They Have Seemed To

Philosophers,  Not A Few Nor Those Common Philosophers,  Altogether

Unintelligible; Nay Even To The Stoics Themselves They Seem Difficult To

Understand. And All Our Assent Is Changeable; For Where Is The Man Who

Never Changes? Carry Thy Thoughts Then To The Objects Themselves,  And

Consider How Short-Lived They Are And Worthless,  And That They May Be In

The Possession Of A Filthy Wretch Or A Whore Or A Robber. Then Turn To

The Morals Of Those Who Live With Thee,  And It Is Hardly Possible To

Endure Even The Most Agreeable Of Them,  To Say Nothing Of A Man Being

Hardly Able To Endure Himself. In Such Darkness Then And Dirt,  And In So

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Constant A Flux Both Of Substance And Of Time,  And Of Motion And Of

Things Moved,  What There Is Worth Being Highly Prized,  Or Even An Object

Of Serious Pursuit,  I Cannot Imagine. But On The Contrary It Is A Man's

Duty To Comfort Himself,  And To Wait For The Natural Dissolution,  And

Not To Be Vexed At The Delay,  But To Rest In These Principles Only: The

One,  That Nothing Will Happen To Me Which Is Not Conformable To The

Nature Of The Universe; And The Other,  That It Is In My Power Never To

Act Contrary To My God And Daemon: For There Is No Man Who Will Compel

Me To This.

 

11. About What Am I Now Employing My Own Soul? On Every Occasion I Must

Ask Myself This Question,  And Inquire,  What Have I Now In This Part Of

Me Which They Call The Ruling Principle? And Whose Soul Have I

Now,--That Of A Child,  Or Of A Young Man,  Or Of A Feeble Woman,  Or Of A

Tyrant,  Or Of A Domestic Animal,  Or Of A Wild Beast?

 

12. What Kind Of Things Those Are Which Appear Good To The Many,  We May

Learn Even From This. For If Any Man Should Conceive Certain Things As

Being Really Good,  Such As Prudence,  Temperance,  Justice,  Fortitude,  He

Would Not After Having First Conceived These Endure To Listen To

Anything+ Which Should Not Be In Harmony With What Is Really Good.+ But

If A Man Has First Conceived As Good The Things Which Appear To The Many

To Be Good,  He Will Listen And Readily Receive As Very Applicable That

Which Was Said By The Comic Writer. +Thus Even The Many Perceive The

Difference.+ For Were It Not So,  This Saying Would Not Offend And Would

Not Be Rejected [In The First Case],  While We Receive It When It Is Said

Of Wealth,  And Of The Means Which Further Luxury And Fame,  As Said Fitly

And Wittily. Go On Then And Ask If We Should Value And Think Those

Things To Be Good,  To Which After Their First Conception In The Mind The

Words Of The Comic Writer Might Be Aptly Applied,--That He Who Has Them,

Through Pure Abundance Has Not A Place To Ease Himself In.

 

13. I Am Composed Of The Formal And The Material; And Neither Of Them

Will Perish Into Non-Existence,  As Neither Of Them Came Into Existence

Out Of Non-Existence. Every Part Of Me Then Will Be Reduced By Change

Into Some Part Of The Universe,  And That Again Will Change Into Another

Part Of The Universe,  And So On Forever. And By Consequence Of Such A

Change I Too Exist,  And Those Who Begot Me,  And So On Forever In The

Other Direction. For Nothing Hinders Us From Saying So,  Even If The

Universe Is Administered According To Definite Periods [Of Revolution].

 

14. Reason And The Reasoning Art [Philosophy] Are Powers Which Are

Sufficient For Themselves And For Their Own Works. They Move Then From A

First Principle Which Is Their Own,  And They Make Their Way To The End

Which Is Proposed To Them; And This Is The Reason Why Such Acts Are

Named Catorthoseis Or Right Acts,  Which Word Signifies That They Proceed

By The Right Road.

 

15. None Of These Things Ought To Be Called A Man's,  Which Do Not Belong

To A Man,  As Man. They Are Not Required Of A Man,  Nor Does Man's Nature

Promise Them,  Nor Are They The Means Of Man's Nature Attaining Its End.

Neither Then Does The End Of Man Lie In These Things,  Nor Yet That Which

Aids To The Accomplishment Of This End,  And That Which Aids Toward This

End Is That Which Is Good. Besides,  If Any Of These Things Did Belong To

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Man,  It Would Not Be Right For A Man To Despise Them And To Set Himself

Against Them; Nor Would A Man Be Worthy Of Praise Who Snowed That He Did

Not Want These Things,  Nor Would He Who Stinted Himself In Any Of Them

Be Good,  If Indeed These Things Were Good. But Now The More Of These

Things A Man Deprives Himself Of,  Or Of Other Things Like Them,  Or Even

When He Is Deprived Of Any Of Them,  The More Patiently He Endures The

Loss,  Just In The Same Degree He Is A Better Man.

 

16. Such As Are Thy Habitual Thoughts,  Such Also Will Be The Character

Of Thy Mind; For The Soul Is Dyed By The Thoughts. Dye It Then With A

Continuous Series Of Such Thoughts As These: For Instance,  That Where A

Man Can Live,  There He Can Also Live Well. But He Must Live In A Palace;

Well Then,  He Can Also Live Well In A Palace. And Again,  Consider That

For Whatever Purpose Each Thing Has Been Constituted,  For This It Has

Been Constituted,  And Towards This It Is Carried; And Its End Is In That

Towards Which It Is Carried; And Where The End Is,  There Also Is The

Advantage And The Good Of Each Thing. Now The Good For The Reasonable

Animal Is Society; For That We Are Made For Society Has Been Shown

Above.[A] Is It Not Plain That The Inferior Exists For The Sake Of The

Superior? But The Things Which Have Life Are Superior To Those Which

Have Not Life,  And Of Those Which Have Life The Superior Are Those Which

Have Reason.

 

    [A] Ii. 1.

 

17. To Seek What Is Impossible Is Madness: And It Is Impossible That The

Bad Should Not Do Something Of This Kind.

 

18. Nothing Happens To Any Man Which He Is Not Formed By Nature To Bear.

The Same Things Happen To Another,  And Either Because He Does Not See

That They Have Happened,  Or Because He Would Show A Great Spirit,  He Is

Firm And Remains Unharmed. It Is A Shame Then That Ignorance And Conceit

Should Be Stronger Than Wisdom.

 

19. Things Themselves Touch Not The Soul,  Not In The Least Degree; Nor

Have They Admission To The Soul,  Nor Can They Turn Or Move The Soul: But

The Soul Turns And Moves Itself Alone,  And Whatever Judgments It May

Think