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

Things Of Fate Can Live Pure And Free By Itself,  Doing What Is

Just And Accepting What Happens And Saying The Truth: If Thou Wilt

Separate,  I Say,  From This Ruling Faculty The Things Which Are Attached

To It By The Impressions Of Sense,  And The Things Of Time To Come And Of

Time That Is Past,  And Wilt Make Thyself Like Empedocles' Sphere,

 

   "All Round And In Its Joyous Rest Reposing;"[A]

 

And If Thou Shalt Strive To Live Only What Is Really Thy Life,  That Is,

The Present,--Then Thou Wilt Be Able To Pass That Portion Of Life Which

Remains For Thee Up To The Time Of Thy Death Free From Perturbations,

Nobly,  And Obedient To Thy Own Daemon [To The God That Is Within Thee]

(Ii. 13,  17; Iii. 5,  6; Xi. 12).

 

4. I Have Often Wondered How It Is That Every Man Loves Himself More

Than All The Rest Of Men,  But Yet Sets Less Value On His Own Opinion Of

Himself Than On The Opinion Of Others. If Then A God Or A Wise Teacher

Should Present Himself To A Man And Bid Him To Think Of Nothing And To

Design Nothing Which He Would Not Express As Soon As He Conceived It,  He

Could Not Endure It Even For A Single Day.[B] So Much More Respect Have

We To What Our Neighbors Shall Think Of Us Than To What We Shall Think

Of Ourselves.

 

    [A] The Verse Of Empedocles Is Corrupt In Antoninus. It Has

    Been Restored By Peyron From A Turin Manuscript,  Thus:--

 

         [Greek: Sphairos Kykloterês Moniê Perigêthei Gaiôn.]

 

    [B] Iii. 4.

 

5. How Can It Be That The Gods,  After Having Arranged All Things Well

And Benevolently For Mankind,  Have Overlooked This Alone,  That Some Men,

And Very Good Men,  And Men Who,  As We May Say,  Have Had Most Communion

With The Divinity,  And Through Pious Acts And Religious Observances Have

Been Most Intimate With The Divinity,  When They Have Once Died Should

Never Exist Again,  But Should Be Completely Extinguished?

 

But If This Is So,  Be Assured That If It Ought To Have Been Otherwise,

The Gods Would Have Done It. For If It Were Just,  It Would Also Be

Possible; And If It Were According To Nature,  Nature Would Have Had It

So. But Because It Is Not So,  If In Fact It Is Not So,  Be Thou Convinced

That It Ought Not To Have Been So: For Thou Seest Even Of Thyself That

In This Inquiry Thou Art Disputing With The Deity; And We Should Not

Thus Dispute With The Gods,  Unless They Were Most Excellent And Most

Just; But If This Is So,  They Would Not Have Allowed Anything In The

Ordering Of The Universe To Be Neglected Unjustly And Irrationally.

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6. Practise Thyself Even In The Things Which Thou Despairest Of

Accomplishing. For Even The Left Hand,  Which Is Ineffectual For All

Other Things For Want Of Practice,  Holds The Bridle More Vigorously Than

The Right Hand; For It Has Been Practised In This.

 

7. Consider In What Condition Both In Body And Soul A Man Should Be When

He Is Overtaken By Death; And Consider The Shortness Of Life,  The

Boundless Abyss Of Time Past And Future,  The Feebleness Of All Matter.

 

8. Contemplate The Formative Principles [Forms] Of Things Bare Of Their

Coverings; The Purposes Of Actions; Consider What Pain Is,  What Pleasure

Is,  And Death,  And Fame; Who Is To Himself The Cause Of His Uneasiness;

How No Man Is Hindered By Another; That Everything Is Opinion.

 

9. In The Application Of Thy Principles Thou Must Be Like The

Pancratiast,  Not Like The Gladiator; For The Gladiator Lets Fall The

Sword Which He Uses And Is Killed; But The Other Always Has His Hand,

And Needs To Do Nothing Else Than Use It.

 

10. See What Things Are In Themselves,  Dividing Them Into Matter,  Form,

And Purpose.

 

11. What A Power Man Has To Do Nothing Except What God Will Approve,  And

To Accept All That God May Give Him.

 

12. With Respect To That Which Happens Conformably To Nature,  We Ought

To Blame Neither Gods,  For They Do Nothing Wrong Either Voluntarily Or

Involuntarily,  Nor Men,  For They Do Nothing Wrong Except Involuntarily.

Consequently We Should Blame Nobody (Ii. 11,  12,  13; Vii. 62; 18 Viii.

17).

 

13. How Ridiculous And What A Stranger He Is Who Is Surprised At

Anything Which Happens In Life.

 

14. Either There Is A Fatal Necessity And Invincible Order,  Or A Kind

Providence,  Or A Confusion Without A Purpose And Without A Director

(Iv. 27). If Then There Is An Invincible Necessity,  Why Dost Thou

Resist? But If There Is A Providence Which Allows Itself To Be

Propitiated,  Make Thyself Worthy Of The Help Of The Divinity. But If

There Is A Confusion Without A Governor,  Be Content That In Such A

Tempest Thou Hast In Thyself A Certain Ruling Intelligence. And Even If

The Tempest Carry Thee Away,  Let It Carry Away The Poor Flesh,  The Poor

Breath,  Everything Else; For The Intelligence At Least It Will Not Carry

Away.

 

15. Does The Light Of The Lamp Shine Without Losing Its Splendor Until

It Is Extinguished? And Shall The Truth Which Is In Thee And Justice And

Temperance Be Extinguished [Before Thy Death]?

 

16. When A Man Has Presented The Appearance Of Having Done Wrong [Say],

How Then Do I Know If This Is A Wrongful Act? And Even If He Has Done

Wrong,  How Do I Know That He Has Not Condemned Himself? And So This Is

Like Tearing His Own Face. Consider That He Who Would Not Have The Bad

Man Do Wrong,  Is Like The Man Who Would Not Have The Fig-Tree To Bear

Juice In The Figs,  And Infants To Cry,  And The Horse To Neigh,  And

Whatever Else Must Of Necessity Be. For What Must A Man Do Who Has Such

A Character? If Then Thou Art Irritable,  + Cure This Man's

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Disposition.[A]

 

17. If It Is Not Right,  Do Not Do It: If It Is Not True,  Do Not Say It.

[For Let Thy Efforts Be--][B]

 

    [A] The Interpreters Translate [Greek: Gorgos] By The Words

    "Acer,  Validusque," And "Skilful." But In Epictetus (Ii. 16,

    20; Iii. 12,  10) [Greek: Gorgos] Means "Vehement," "Prone To

    Anger," "Irritable."

 

    [B] There Is Something Wrong Here,  Or Incomplete.

 

18. In Everything Always Observe What The Thing Is Which Produces For

Thee An Appearance,  And Resolve It By Dividing It Into The Formal,  The

Material,  The Purpose,  And The Time Within Which It Must End.

 

19. Perceive At Last That Thou Hast In Thee Something Better And More

Divine Than The Things Which Cause The Various Affects,  And As It Were

Pull Thee By The Strings. What Is There Now In My Mind,--Is It Fear,  Or

Suspicion,  Or Desire,  Or Anything Of The Kind (V. 11)?

 

20. First,  Do Nothing Inconsiderately,  Nor Without A Purpose. Second,

Make Thy Acts Refer To Nothing Else Than To A Social End.

 

21. Consider That Before Long Thou Wilt Be Nobody And Nowhere,  Nor Will

Any Of The Things Exist Which Thou Now Seest,  Nor Any Of Those Who Are

Now Living. For All Things Are Formed By Nature To Change And Be Turned

And To Perish,  In Order That Other Things In Continuous Succession May

Exist (Ix. 28).

 

22. Consider That Everything Is Opinion,  And Opinion Is In Thy Power.

Take Away Then,  When Thou Choosest,  Thy Opinion,  And Like A Mariner Who

Has Doubled The Promontory,  Thou Wilt Find Calm,  Everything Stable,  And

A Waveless Bay.

 

23. Any One Activity,  Whatever It May Be,  When It Has Ceased At Its

Proper Time,  Suffers No Evil Because It Has Ceased; Nor He Who Has Done

This Act,  Does He Suffer Any Evil For This Reason,  That The Act Has

Ceased. In Like Manner Then The Whole,  Which Consists Of All The Acts,

Which Is Our Life,  If It Cease At Its Proper Time,  Suffers No Evil For

This Reason,  That It Has Ceased; Nor He Who Has Terminated This Series

At The Proper Time,  Has He Been Ill Dealt With. But The Proper Time And

The Limit Nature Fixes,  Sometimes As In Old Age The Peculiar Nature Of

Man,  But Always The Universal Nature,  By The Change Of Whose Parts The

Whole Universe Continues Ever Young And Perfect.[A] And Everything Which

Is Useful To The Universal Is Always Good And In Season. Therefore The

Termination Of Life For Every Man Is No Evil,  Because Neither Is It

Shameful,  Since It Is Both Independent Of The Will And Not Opposed To

The General Interest,  But It Is Good,  Since It Is Seasonable,  And

Profitable To And Congruent With The Universal. For Thus Too He Is Moved

By The Deity Who Is Moved In The Same Manner With The Deity,  And Moved

Towards The Same Thing In His Mind.

 

    [A] Vii. 25.

 

24. These Three Principles Thou Must Have In Readiness: In The Things

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Which Thou Doest,  Do Nothing Either Inconsiderately Or Otherwise Than As

Justice Herself Would Act; But With Respect To What May Happen To Thee

From Without,  Consider That It Happens Either By Chance Or According To

Providence,  And Thou Must Neither Blame Chance Nor Accuse Providence.

Second,  Consider What Every Being Is From The Seed To The Time Of Its

Receiving A Soul,  And From The Reception Of A Soul To The Giving Back Of

The Same,  And Of What Things Every Being Is Compounded,  And Into What

Things It Is Resolved. Third,  If Thou Shouldst Suddenly Be Raised Up

Above The Earth,  And Shouldst Look Down On Human Things,  And Observe The

Variety Of Them How Great It Is,  And At The Same Time Also Shouldst See

At A Glance How Great Is The Number Of Beings Who Dwell All Around In

The Air And The Ether,  Consider That As Often As Thou Shouldst Be Raised

Up,  Thou Wouldst See The Same Things,  Sameness Of Form And Shortness Of

Duration. Are These Things To Be Proud Of?

 

25. Cast Away Opinion: Thou Art Saved. Who Then Hinders Thee From

Casting It Away?

 

26. When Thou Art Troubled About Anything,  Thou Hast Forgotten This,

That All Things Happen According To The Universal Nature; And Forgotten

This,  That A Man's Wrongful Act Is Nothing To