Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus - Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (novels to read for beginners .TXT) 📗
- Author: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
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Usual And Natural, Why Shouldst Thou Complain? For The Common Nature
Brings Nothing Which May Not Be Borne By Thee.
47. If Thou Art Pained By Any External Thing, It Is Not This Thing That
Disturbs Thee, But Thy Own Judgment About It. And It Is In Thy Power To
Wipe Out This Judgment Now. But If Anything In Thy Own Disposition Gives
Thee Pain, Who Hinders Thee From Correcting Thy Opinion? And Even If
Thou Art Pained Because Thou Art Not Doing Some Particular Thing Which
Seems To Thee To Be Right, Why Dost Thou Not Rather Act Than
Complain?--But Some Insuperable Obstacle Is In The Way?--Do Not Be
Grieved Then, For The Cause Of Its Not Being Done Depends Not On
Thee.--But It Is Not Worth While To Live, If This Cannot Be Done.--Take
Thy Departure Then From Life Contentedly, Just As He Dies Who Is In Full
Activity, And Well Pleased Too With The Things Which Are Obstacles.
Story 3 (The Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antonius) Pg 9048. Remember That The Ruling Faculty Is Invincible, When Self-Collected
It Is Satisfied With Itself, If It Does Nothing Which It Does Not Choose
To Do, Even If It Resist From Mere Obstinacy. What Then Will It Be When
It Forms A Judgment About Anything Aided By Reason And Deliberately?
Therefore The Mind Which Is Free From Passions Is A Citadel, For Man Has
Nothing More Secure To Which He Can Fly For Refuge And For The Future Be
Inexpugnable. He Then Who Has Not Seen This Is An Ignorant Man; But He
Who Has Seen It And Does Not Fly To This Refuge Is Unhappy.
49. Say Nothing More To Thyself Than What The First Appearances Report.
Suppose That It Has Been Reported To Thee That A Certain Person Speaks
Ill Of Thee. This Has Been Reported; But That Thou Hast Been Injured,
That Has Not Been Reported. I See That My Child Is Sick. I Do See; But
That He Is In Danger, I Do Not See. Thus Then Always Abide By The First
Appearances, And Add Nothing Thyself From Within, And Then Nothing
Happens To Thee. Or Rather Add Something Like A Man Who Knows Everything
That Happens In The World.
50. A Cucumber Is Bitter--Throw It Away.--There Are Briers In The
Road--Turn Aside From Them.--This Is Enough. Do Not Add, And Why Were
Such Things Made In The World? For Thou Wilt Be Ridiculed By A Man Who
Is Acquainted With Nature, As Thou Wouldst Be Ridiculed By A Carpenter
And Shoemaker If Thou Didst Find Fault Because Thou Seest In Their
Workshop Shavings And Cuttings From The Things Which They Make. And Yet
They Have Places Into Which They Can Throw These Shavings And Cuttings,
And The Universal Nature Has No External Space; But The Wondrous Part Of
Her Art Is That Though She Has Circumscribed Herself, Everything Within
Her Which Appears To Decay And To Grow Old And To Be Useless She Changes
Into Herself, And Again Makes Other New Things From These Very Same, So
That She Requires Neither Substance From Without Nor Wants A Place Into
Which She May Cast That Which Decays. She Is Content Then With Her Own
Space, And Her Own Matter, And Her Own Art.
51. Neither In Thy Actions Be Sluggish Nor In Thy Conversation Without
Method, Nor Wandering In Thy Thoughts, Nor Let There Be In Thy Soul
Inward Contention Nor External Effusion, Nor In Life Be So Busy As To
Have No Leisure.
Suppose That Men Kill Thee, Cut Thee In Pieces, Curse Thee. What Then
Can These Things Do To Prevent Thy Mind From Remaining Pure, Wise,
Sober, Just? For Instance, If A Man Should Stand By A Limpid Pure
Spring, And Curse It, The Spring Never Ceases Sending Up Potable Water;
And If He Should Cast Clay Into It Or Filth, It Will Speedily Disperse
Them And Wash Them Out, And Will Not Be At All Polluted. How Then Shalt
Thou Possess A Perpetual Fountain [And Not A Mere Well]? By Forming +
Thyself Hourly To Freedom Conjoined With Contentment, Simplicity, And
Modesty.
52. He Who Does Not Know What The World Is, Does Not Know Where He Is.
And He Who Does Not Know For What Purpose The World Exists, Does Not
Know Who He Is, Nor What The World Is. But He Who Has Failed In Any One
Of These Things Could Not Even Say For What Purpose He Exists Himself.
What Then Dost Thou Think Of Him Who [Avoids Or] Seeks The Praise Of
Those Who Applaud, Of Men Who Know Not Either Where They Are Or Who They
Are?
53. Dost Thou Wish To Be Praised By A Man Who Curses Himself Thrice
Every Hour? Wouldst Thou Wish To Please A Man Who Does Not Please
Story 3 (The Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antonius) Pg 91Himself? Does A Man Please Himself Who Repents Of Nearly Everything That
He Does?
54. No Longer Let Thy Breathing Only Act In Concert With The Air Which
Surrounds Thee, But Let Thy Intelligence Also Now Be In Harmony With The
Intelligence Which Embraces All Things. For The Intelligent Power Is No
Less Diffused In All Parts And Pervades All Things For Him Who Is
Willing To Draw It To Him Than The Aerial Power For Him Who Is Able To
Respire It.
55. Generally, Wickedness Does No Harm At All To The Universe; And
Particularly The Wickedness [Of One Man] Does No Harm To Another. It Is
Only Harmful To Him Who Has It In His Power To Be Released From It As
Soon As He Shall Choose.
56. To My Own Free Will The Free Will Of My Neighbor Is Just As
Indifferent As His Poor Breath And Flesh. For Though We Are Made
Especially For The Sake Of One Another, Still The Ruling Power Of Each
Of Us Has Its Own Office, For Otherwise My Neighbor's Wickedness Would
Be My Harm, Which God Has Not Willed, In Order That My Unhappiness May
Not Depend On Another.
57. The Sun Appears To Be Poured Down, And In All Directions Indeed It
Is Diffused, Yet It Is Not Effused. For This Diffusion Is Extension:
Accordingly Its Rays Are Called Extensions [[Greek: Aktines]] Because
They Are Extended [[Greek: Apo Tou Ekteinesthai]].[A] But One May Judge
What Kind Of A Thing A Ray Is, If He Looks At The Sun's Light Passing
Through A Narrow Opening Into A Darkened Room, For It Is Extended In A
Right Line, And As It Were Is Divided When It Meets With Any Solid Body
Which Stands In The Way And Intercepts The Air Beyond; But There The
Light Remains Fixed And Does Not Glide Or Fall Off. Such Then Ought To
Be The Outpouring And Diffusion Of The Understanding, And It Should In
No Way Be An Effusion, But An Extension, And It Should Make No Violent
Or Impetuous Collision With The Obstacles Which Are In Its Way; Nor Yet
Fall Down, But Be Fixed, And Enlighten That Which Receives It. For A
Body Will Deprive Itself Of The Illumination, If It Does Not Admit It.
[A] A Piece Of Bad Etymology.
58. He Who Fears Death Either Fears The Loss Of Sensation Or A Different
Kind Of Sensation. But If Thou Shalt Have No Sensation, Neither Wilt
Thou Feel Any Harm; And If Thou Shalt Acquire Another Kind Of Sensation,
Thou Wilt Be A Different Kind Of Living Being And Thou Wilt Not Cease To
Live.
59. Men Exist For The Sake Of One Another. Teach Them Then, Or Bear With
Them.
60. In One Way An Arrow Moves, In Another Way The Mind. The Mind Indeed,
Both When It Exercises Caution And When It Is Employed About Inquiry,
Moves Straight Onward Not The Less, And To Its Object.
61. Enter Into Every Man's Ruling Faculty; And Also Let Every Other Man
Enter Into Thine.[A]
[A] Compare Epictetus, Iii. 9, 12.
Story 3 (The Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antonius) Pg 92Ix.
He Who Acts Unjustly Acts Impiously. For Since The Universal Nature Has
Made Rational Animals For The Sake Of One Another, To Help One Another
According To Their Deserts, But In No Way To Injure One Another, He Who
Transgresses Her Will Is Clearly Guilty Of Impiety Towards The Highest
Divinity. And He Too Who Lies Is Guilty Of Impiety To The Same Divinity;
For The Universal Nature Is The Nature Of Things That Are; And Things
That Are Have A Relation To All Things That Come Into Existence.[A] And
Further, This Universal Nature Is Named Truth, And Is The Prime Cause Of
All Things That Are True. He Then Who Lies Intentionally Is Guilty Of
Impiety, Inasmuch As He Acts Unjustly By Deceiving; And He Also Who Lies
Unintentionally, Inasmuch As He Is At Variance With The Universal
Nature, And Inasmuch As He Disturbs The Order By Fighting Against The
Nature Of The World; For He Fights Against It, Who Is Moved Of Himself
To That Which Is Contrary To Truth, For He Had Received Powers From
Nature Through The Neglect Of Which He Is Not Able Now To Distinguish
Falsehood From Truth. And Indeed He Who Pursues Pleasure As Good, And
Avoids Pain As Evil, Is Guilty Of Impiety. For Of Necessity Such A Man
Must Often Find Fault With The Universal Nature, Alleging That It
Assigns Things To The Bad And The Good Contrary To Their Deserts,
Because Frequently The Bad Are In The Enjoyment Of Pleasure And Possess
The Things Which Procure Pleasure, But The Good Have Pain For Their
Share And The Things Which Cause Pain. And Further, He Who Is Afraid Of
Pain Will Sometimes Also Be Afraid Of Some Of The Things Which Will
Happen In The World, And Even This Is Impiety. And He Who Pursues
Pleasure Will Not Abstain From Injustice, And This Is Plainly Impiety.
Now With Respect To The Things Towards Which The Universal Nature Is
Equally Affected--For It Would Not Have Made Both, Unless It Was Equally
Affected Towards Both--Towards These They Who Wish To Follow Nature
Should Be Of The Same Mind With It, And Equally Affected. With Respect
To Pain, Then, And Pleasure, Or Death And Life, Or Honor And Dishonor,
Which The Universal Nature Employs Equally, Whoever Is Not Equally
Affected Is Manifestly Acting Impiously. And I Say That The Universal
Nature Employs Them Equally, Instead Of Saying That They Happen
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