THE MEDITATIONS OF MARCUS AURELIUS

As surgeons always have their instruments and knives ready for cases which suddenly need their skill, so do you have principles ready for the understanding of things divine and human.

I

From my grandfather Verus I learned good morals and the government of my temper.

From the reputation and remembrance of my father, modesty and a manly character.

From my mother, piety and generosity, 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.

From my great-grandfather, not to go to the public schools, but to have good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally.

From my tutor, 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 hardship, 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.

From Diognetus, not to busy myself about trifling things, and not to give credit to what miracle-workers and jugglers say about incantations and the driving away of demons and such things; and not to breed quails or to give myself up passionately to such things; and to tolerate freedom of speech and to become intimate with philosophy; and to be a hearer, first of Bacchius, then of Tandasis and Marcianus; and to write dialogues in my youth; and to like a plank bed and skin, and whatever else of the kind belongs to the Grecian discipline.

From Rusticus I got the idea that my character needed improvement and discipline; and from him I learned not to be led astray to sophistic vanity, or to write on speculative matters, or to deliver little moral harangues, or to show myself off as a man who practices much discipline or does benevolent acts in order to make a display; and to refrain from rhetoric and poetry and fine writing; and not to walk about in the house in my outdoor robe, or to do other things of the kind; and to write my letters with simplicity, like the letter which he wrote from Sinuessa to my mother; and with regard to persons who have offended me by words, or done me wrong, to be easily pacified and reconciled, as soon as they have shown a desire to be reconciled; and to read carefully, and not to be satisfied with a superficial understanding of a book; nor hastily to give my assent to those who talk overmuch; and I am indebted to him for my acquaintance with the discourses of Epictetus, which he gave me out of his own collection.

From Apollonius I learned freedom of will and undeviating steadiness of purpose; and to look at nothing else, not even for a moment, but reason; and to be always the same, even in sharp pains, in the loss of a child, and in long illness; and to see clearly from his living example that the same man can be both most resolute and lenient, and not peevish in giving his instruction. I had before my eyes a man who clearly considered his experience and his skill in expounding philosophical principles as the smallest of his merits; and from him I learned how to receive from friends what are considered favors, without being either humbled by them or letting them pass without notice.

From Sextus, good humor and the example of a family governed in a fatherly manner, and the idea of living in accord with nature; and gravity without affectation, and to look carefully after the interests of friends, and to tolerate ignorant persons, and those friends who form opinions without consideration. He had the power of readily adapting himself to all, so that conversation with him was more delightful than any flattery. At the same time he was most highly venerated by those who associated with him; and he had the faculty both of discovering and stating, in an intelligent and methodical way, the principles necessary for living; and he never showed anger or any other passion, but was entirely free from passion, and also most affectionate; and he could express approbation without noisy display, and he possessed great knowledge without ostentation.

10.

From Alexander, the grammarian, to refrain from faultfinding, and not in a reproachful way to chide those who uttered any barbarous or incorrect or strange-sounding expression; but tactfully to introduce the very expression which they ought to have used, in the course of an answer or assent or inquiry about the thing, not about the word; or by some other suitable suggestion.

11.

From Fronto I learned to observe what envy and duplicity and hypocrisy are in a tyrant; and that generally those among us who are called Patricians are rather deficient in paternal affection.

12.

From Alexander the Platonist, not frequently nor without necessity to say to anyone, or to write in a letter, "I have no time"; nor continually to excuse the neglect of duties required by our relation to those we live with, by alleging urgent business.

13.

From Catullus, not to be deaf when a friend finds fault, even if he should find fault without reason, but to try to restore him to his usual humor; and always to speak well of my teachers, as Domitius and Athenodotus are said to have done; and to love my children truly.

14.

From my brother Severus, to love my kin, and to love truth, and to love justice; and through him I learned to know Thrasea, Helvidius, Cato, Dion, Brutus; and from him I received the idea of a state in which there is the same law for all, a state administered with regard to equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and the idea of a kingly government which respects most of all the freedom of the governed. I learned from him also consistency and undeviating steadiness in my regard for philosophy, and a disposition to do good, and to give to others readily, and to cherish good hopes, and to believe that I am loved by my friends; and in him I observed no concealment of his opinion of those whom he condemned, and that his friends had no need to conjecture what he wished or did not wish, but it was quite plain.

15.

From Maximus I learned self-government, and not to be led aside by anything; and cheerfulness in all circumstances, as well as in illness; and a just admixture in the moral character of sweetness and dignity, and to do what was set before me without complaining. I observed that everybody believed that he thought as he spoke, and that in all that he did he never had any bad intention; and he never showed amazement and surprise, and was never in a hurry, and never put off doing a thing; nor was he perplexed nor dejected, nor did he ever laugh to disguise his vexation, nor, on the other hand, was he ever passionate or suspicious. He was accustomed to do acts of kindness and was ready to forgive, and was free from all falsehood; and he presented the appearance of a man who could not be diverted from right rather than of a man who had been improved. I observed, too, that no man could ever think that he was despised by Maximus, or ever venture to think himself a better man. He had also the art of being humorous in an agreeable way.

16.

In my father I observed mildness of temper, and unchangeable resolution in the things which he had determined on after due deliberation; and no vainglory in those things which men call honors; and a love of labor and perseverance; and a readiness to listen to whoever had anything to propose for the common weal; and undeviating firmness in giving to every man his deserts; and a knowledge derived from experience of the right times for vigorous action and for relaxation. And I observed that he had overcome any passion for boys; and he considered himself no more than any other citizen; and he released his friends from all obligation to dine with him or compulsion to attend him when he went abroad, and those who had failed to accompany him, by reason of any urgent circumstance, always found him the same.
I observed too his habit of careful inquiry into all matters of deliberation, and his persistency; and that he never stopped an investigation as though satisfied with first appearances; and that his disposition was to keep his friends, and not to be soon tired of them, nor yet to be extravagant in his affection; and to be satisfied on all occasions, and cheerful; and to foresee things a long way off, and to provide for the smallest details without display; and to check immediately popular applause and all flattery; and to be ever watchful over the things which were necessary for the administration of the empire, and to be a good manager of the expenditure, and patiently to endure the blame which he got for such conduct. And he was neither superstitious with respect to the gods, nor did he court men by gifts or by trying to please them, or by flattering the populace; but he showed sobriety in all things and firmness, and never any mean thoughts or action, or love of novelty. And the things which conduce in any way to the comfort of life, and of which fortune gives an abundant supply, he used without arrogance and without excusing himself; so that when he had them, he enjoyed them without affectation, and when he had them not, he did not want them. No one could ever say of him that he was either a sophist or a flippant slave or pedant; but everyone acknowledged him to be a man ripe, perfect, above flattery, able to manage his own and other men's affairs. Besides this, he honored those who were true philosophers, and he did not reproach those who pretended to be philosophers, nor yet was he easily led by them. He was also easy in conversation, and made himself agreeable without any offensive affectation.
He took a reasonable care of his body's health, not as one who was greatly attached to life, nor out of regard to personal appearance, nor yet in a careless way, but so that, through his own attention, he very seldom stood in need of the physician's art or of medicine or external applications. He was ready to make way without envy to those who possessed any particular faculty, such as that of eloquence, or knowledge of the law, or morals, or anything else; and he gave them his help, that each might enjoy reputation according to his deserts; and he always conformed to the institutions of his country, without making any show of doing so. Further, he was not fond of change nor unsteady, but loved to stay in the same places, and to employ himself about the same things; and after his paroxysms of headache he came back immediately fresh and vigorous to his usual occupations. His secrets were not many, but very few and rare, and only about public matters; and he showed prudence and economy in putting on public spectacles and constructing public buildings, in donations to the people, and such things; for he was one who looked to what ought to be done, not to the reputation which a man gets by his acts. He did not bathe at unreasonable hours; he was not fond of building houses, nor curious about what he ate; he did not care about the texture and color of his clothes, or about the beauty of his slaves. His clothing came from Lorium, where his country house was, and was usually of Lanuvian wool. We know how he behaved to the toll-collector at Tusculum who asked his pardon; and such was his behavior always. There was in him nothing harsh, or implacable, or violent, or, as one may say, anything carried to the sweating point; but he examined things one by one, as if he had plenty of time, and without confusion, in an orderly way, vigorously and consistently. And that might be applied to him which is recorded of Socrates, that he was able either to leave or to take those things which many are too weak to abstain from, and cannot enjoy in moderation. But to be strong enough either to do the first or to be sober in the second is the mark of a man who has a perfect and invincible soul, such as he showed in the illness of Maximus.

17.

To the gods I am indebted for having good grandfathers, good parents, a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly everything good. Further, I owe it to the gods that I was not pushed into any offense against any of them, though I had a disposition which, if opportunity had offered, might have led me into something of this kind; but, through their favor, there never was such a concurrence of circumstances as put me to the trial. Further, I am thankful to the gods that I was not longer brought up with my grandfather's mistress, and that I preserved the flower of my youth, and that I did not make proof of my virility before the proper season, but even deferred the time; that I was subjected to a ruler and a father who was able to take away all pride from me, and to bring me the knowledge that it is possible for a man to live in a palace without wanting either guards or embroidered robes, or torches and statues, and suchlike show; but that it is in such a man's power to bring himself very near the fashion of a private person, without becoming thereby either meaner in thought, or less forceful in action, when things must be done for the public interest in a manner that befits a ruler. I thank the gods for giving me a brother who was able by his moral character to rouse me to vigilance over myself, and who, at the same time, pleased me by his respect and affection; that my children have not been stupid or deformed in body; that I was not more proficient in rhetoric, poetry, and the other studies, in which I should perhaps have been completely engaged, if I had seen that I was making progress in them; that I promptly placed those who brought me up in the stations of honor they seemed to desire, without putting them off with promises of doing it some time after, because they were then still young; that I received clear and frequent impressions of what is meant about living in accordance with nature; so that, so far as depended on the gods, and their gifts, and help, and inspiration, nothing hindered me from living according to nature, though I still fall short of it through my own fault, and through not observing the admonitions of the gods, and, I may almost say, their dictates; that my body has held out so long in such a kind of life; that I never touched either Benedicta or Theodotus, and that, after having fallen into some fits of love, I was cured; and, though I was often out of humor with Rusticus, I never did anything of which I had occasion to repent; that, though it was my mother's fate to die young, she spent the last years of her life with me; that, whenever I wished to help any man in his need, or on any other occasion, I was never told that I had not the means of doing it; and that to myself the necessity never arrived of receiving anything from another; that I have such a wife, so obedient, and so affectionate, and so simple; that I had abundance of good masters for my children; and that remedies have been shown to me by dreams, among other things, against blood-spitting and dizziness. And that, when I had an inclination to philosophy, I did not fall into the hands of any sophist, and that I did not waste my time on the ordinary philosophers or in solving syllogisms, or investigating appearances in the heavens; for all these things require the help of the gods and fortune.

Among the Quadi, by the Granua.

II

Begin the morning by saying to yourself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil. But I who have seen the nature of the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, that it is akin to mine, not only of the same blood or seed, but that it participates in the same intelligence and the same portion of divinity, I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, nor can I be angry with my brother, nor hate him. For we are made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.

Whatever this is that I am, it is a little flesh, breath, and the ruling part. Throw away your books; no longer distract yourself; it is not allowed. But as if you were now dying, despise the flesh; it is blood and bones and a network, a tissue 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 is the ruling part. Consider thus: You are an old man; no longer let this part be a slave, no longer be pulled by the strings like a puppet by self-seeking impulse, no longer be either dissatisfied with your present lot, or shrink from the future.

All that is from the gods is full of providence. The workings of chance are not separated from nature or without an interweaving and dependence on the dispositions of providence. From providence all things flow. And side by side with it is necessity, and that which works to the advantage of the whole universe, of which you are a part. But that is good for every part of nature which the nature of the whole brings to pass, and which serves to maintain this nature. Now the universe is preserved, both by the changes of the elements and by the changes of the things compounded. Let these principles be enough for you; let them always be fixed opinions. But cast away the thirst after books, that you may not die murmuring, but cheerfully, and thankful from your heart to the gods.

Remember how long you have been putting off these things, and how often you have received an opportunity from the gods and yet have not used it. You must now at last perceive of what kind of a universe you are a part, and the true nature of the lord of the universe of which your being is a part, and how a limit of time is fixed for you, which if you do not use for clearing away the clouds from your mind, it will go and you will go, and it will never return.

Every moment think steadily as a Roman and as a man to do what you have in hand with perfect and simple dignity, and kindliness, and freedom, and justice; and to give yourself relief from all other thoughts. And you will give yourself relief, if you do every act of your life as if it were the last, renouncing all carelessness and passionate resistance to the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, and self-love, and discontent with the portion which has been given to you. You see how few the things are which a man needs to lay hold of in order to live a life which flows in quiet, and is like the life of the gods; for the gods on their part will require nothing more from him who observes these things.

Is violence done you? Do no violence to yourself, my soul! Soon the opportunity of honoring yourself will be at an end. Every man's life is enough; but yours is nearly finished, though your soul honors not yourself, but places your felicity in the souls of others.

Do things external which happen to you distract you? Give yourself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. But then you must also avoid going astray the other way. For those too are triflers who have worn themselves out by activity, and yet have no goal to which they direct their movements or their thoughts.

Through not observing the thoughts of another a man is seldom unhappy; but he who does not observe the movements of his own mind must of necessity be unhappy.

This you 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 part it is of what kind of whole; and there is no one who can hinder you from always doing and saying the things which are in accord with the nature of which you are a part.

10.

Theophrastus, in his comparison of wrong acts-such a comparison as one might make to fit the common notions of mankind-says, like a true philosopher, that offenses committed through desire are more blameworthy than those committed through anger. For a man excited by anger seems to abandon his reason with pain and unconscious shrinking; but he who sins through desire, overpowered by pleasure, seems more intemperate and more unmanly in his offenses. Rightly then, and like a philosopher, he said that a sin committed with pleasure is more blameworthy than one committed with pain. The first is more like a person who has been wronged and through pain compelled to be angry; but the second is moved by his own impulse to do wrong, and carried on to sin by desire.

11.

Since it is possible that you may be quitting life this very moment, govern every act and thought accordingly. But to go away from mankind, if there are gods, is no thing to be afraid of, for the gods will do you no evil; and if they do not exist, or if they have no concern for human affairs, why should I 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 it entirely in man's power not to fall into real evils. As to other troubles, if they were really evil, they would have provided for them also, and given man the power not to fall into them. Now that which does not make a man worse, how can it make his life worse? But neither because it was ignorant, nor because with the knowledge it had not the power to guard against or correct these things; could the nature of that universe have overlooked them; nor could it have made so great a mistake, either through want of power or want of skill, that the real good and evil should happen indiscriminately to good men and bad. But death certainly, and life, honor, and dishonor, pain and pleasure, all these things do happen alike to good men and bad, for they are things which make us neither better nor worse. Therefore they are really neither good nor evil.

12.

How quickly all things disappear, bodies into the universe, memories of them in time. What is the nature of sense objects, and particularly of those which attract with the bait of pleasure or terrify by pain, or are known everywhere for their vapory fame; how worthless, and contemptible, and sordid, and perishable, and dead they are-all this it is the part of the intellect to observe. To observe too what people they are whose opinions and voices create a reputation; what death is, and how, if a man looks at it in itself, and by the abstract power of reflection analyzes the features of it which strike the imagination, he will discover it is nothing else than an operation of nature; and he who fears the course of nature is a child. Death, however, is not only a work of nature, but it is also a thing that fulfills the purposes of nature. Observe, too, how man comes near to the Deity, and by what part of him, and when this part of him is so disposed.

13.

Nothing is more wretched than the man who travels about everywhere, and pries into things beneath the earth, as the poet says, and strives to conjecture the thoughts of his neighbors, without perceiving that it is sufficient to attend to the divinity within him, and to reverence it sincerely. And to revere the divinity means keeping it pure from passion and frivolity, and content with gods and men. For the government of the gods merits veneration for its excellence; and the deeds of men should be dear to us by reason of our kinship with them. Sometimes they even move our pity by reason of their ignorance of good and evil; this defect is as great as the blindness which cannot tell white from black.

14.

Though you were to live three thousand years, or three million, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, or lives any other than this which he now loses. The longest and the shortest thus come to the same. For the present is the same to everyone, though the past is not the same, and what is lost appears to be a mere moment. For a man cannot lose either his past or his future: for what a man has not, how can anyone take from him? These two things then you must bear in mind: the first, that all things from eternity repeat the same forms and come round in a circle, and that it makes no difference whether a man gazes at the same things for a hundred years or two hundred, or an infinite time; and the second, that the longest liver and he who dies soonest lose just the same. For the present is the only thing a man can lose, if it is true that it is the only thing he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing which he has not.

15.

Remember that all is but opinion. For what the Cynic Monimus said is obvious: and obvious too is the use of what he said, if a man accepts what may be got out of it only as far as it is true.

16.

The soul of man does violence to itself, first of all, when it becomes an abscess and, as it were, a tumor on the universe, as far as it can. For to be vexed at anything that happens is a separation of ourselves from nature, in some part of which the natures of all other things are contained. Secondly, the soul does violence to itself when it turns away from any man, or moves against him with the intention of harming him, as do the souls of the angry. In the third place, the soul does violence to itself when it succumbs to pleasure or pain. Fourthly, when it plays a part, and acts or speaks insincerely or untruly. Fifthly, when it performs any act or any movement aimlessly, and does anything thoughtlessly and without considering what it is, whereas even the smallest things ought to be designed for an end; and the end of rational beings is to follow the reason and the law of the most ancient city and commonwealth.

17.

The time of human life is but a point, and the substance is a flux, and its perceptions dull, and the composition of the body corruptible, and the soul a whirl, and fortune inscrutable, and fame a senseless thing. In a word, everything which belongs to the body is a flowing stream, and what belongs to the soul a dream and a vapor, and life is a warfare and a stranger's sojourn, and future fame is oblivion. What then is there which can guide a man? One thing and only one, philosophy. Now this consists in keeping the divinity within us free from violence and unharmed, superior to pain and pleasure, doing nothing without a purpose, nor yet falsely and with hypocrisy, not feeling the need of another man's doing or not doing something; and, furthermore, accepting all that happens and all that is allotted us, as coming from the source, wherever it is, whence it itself came; and, finally, waiting for death with a cheerful mind, since it is nothing but a dissolving of the elements of which each living being is composed. If the elements themselves are not harmed by each continually changing into another, why should a man feel any dread of the change and dissolution of all his elements? For it is as nature wills it, and nothing is evil which nature wills.

At Carnuntum.

III

We ought to remember not only that our life is daily wasting away and a smaller part of it is left, but also that if a man should live longer, it is quite uncertain whether his mind will stay strong enough to understand things, and retain the power of contemplation to strive after knowledge of the divine and the human. For if he begins to sink into dotage, he still may perspire and take food and keep his imagination and appetite, and other powers of the kind; but the power of making himself useful, and filling up the measure of his duty, and clearly distinguishing appearances, knowing whether he should retire from life, and whatever else of the kind requires a disciplined reason, all this is already dead in him. We must make haste then, not only because we are daily nearer to death, but also because our perception of things and understanding of them cease first.

We ought to observe also that even the small characteristics of things produced according to nature have something in them pleasing and attractive. For instance, when a loaf of bread is baked there are cracks in the surface, and these breaks, which are contrary to the purpose of the baker, are beautiful in their way, and stimulate the appetite. Again, figs when they are quite ripe gape open; and ripe olives when they are near to rotting are particularly good to look at. And ears of corn bending down, and a lion's eyebrows, and the foam which flows from the mouth of a wild boar, and many other things though they are far from beautiful, if one examines them separately-still, because they are characteristics of things formed by nature, help to adorn them, and please the eye. Thus if a man has a feeling for and deep insight into the things produced in the universe, there is hardly one of their characteristics that will not seem to him of a sort to give him pleasure. So he will look on the gaping jaws of living wild beasts with as much pleasure as on those which painters and sculptors depict in imitation; and in an old woman and an old man he will perceive a certain ripeness and comeliness; and will look on the attractive loveliness of young persons with chaste eyes. Many such beauties will show themselves, not pleasing to every man, but to him who has become truly at home with nature and her works.

Hippocrates, who cured many diseases, himself fell sick and died. The Chaldeans foretold the deaths of people, and then fate caught them too. Alexander, Pompey, and Julius Caesar, who had destroyed so many whole cities, and in battle cut to pieces so many thousands of horsemen and foot soldiers, themselves too at last departed this life. Heraclitus, who speculated so much on the conflagration of the universe, was swollen with dropsy and died in a plaster of dung. Vermin destroyed Democritus and another kind of vermin killed Socrates. What does all this mean? You have taken ship, you have made the voyage, you have come to port; disembark. If you come to another life, there are gods enough even there; but if to a state without sensation, you will no more be gripped by pains and pleasures, or be slave to the vessel, which is as much inferior as that which serves it is superior; for the latter is all intelligence and deity; the former earth and corruption.

Waste not the remainder of your life in thoughts about others, except when you are concerned with some unselfish purpose. For you are losing an opportunity to do something else, when you have such thoughts as: "What is such a person doing, and why, and what is he saying, and what is he thinking, and what is he contriving? "-and whatever else of the kind makes us forget to observe our own ruling principle. We ought to check in the course of our thoughts everything that is without a purpose and useless, but most of all meddling and maliciousness. A man should train himself to think only of those things about which if you were suddenly asked, "What have you now in your thoughts? "-with perfect openness you might immediately answer, This or That; so that from your words it should be plain that everything in you is sincere and kindly, and befitting a social animal, and one that cares not for thoughts of pleasure or sensual enjoyments or any rivalry or envy or suspicion, or anything else for which you would blush if you were to say it was in your mind. For such a man, who delays not to enter among the best, is like a priest and minister of the gods and uses the divinity which is within him, which keeps him uncontaminated by pleasure, unharmed by pain, untouched by insult, feeling no wrong, a fighter in the noblest fight, one who cannot be overpowered by passion, steeped in justice, accepting with all his soul everything that happens and is assigned to him as his portion. Not often, nor without some great necessity and for the general interest, does he conjecture what another says, or does, or thinks. For it is only what belongs to himself that he is concerned about; he thinks constantly of what is assigned to him out of the sum total of things, and makes his own acts fair, and is persuaded that his own lot is good. For the lot assigned to each man moves along with him and carries him along with it. He remembers also that every rational being is his kinsman, and that to care for all men is natural to man; and that a man should not care for the opinion of everybody but of those only who live according to nature. As for those who live not so, he bears always in mind what kind of men they are both at home and abroad, both by night and by day, and what they are, and with what companions they live their evil life. Accordingly, he values not at all the praise which comes from such men, since they are not satisfied even with themselves.

Labor not unwillingly, nor without regard to the common interest, nor without due consideration, nor with distraction; nor express your thoughts with studied eloquence. Be not either a man of many words, or busy about too many things. Make the divinity within you guardian of a living being, manly, of ripe age, a statesman, a Roman, and an emperor, who keeps his post like a man waiting for the signal to summon him from life, ready to go, needing neither the oath nor any man's testimony. Be cheerful also, and depend not on external help or on the tranquillity which others give. A man must stand erect, not be held erect by others.

If you find in human life anything better than justice, truth, temperance, fortitude, in a word, anything better than your own mind's self-satisfaction in the things it enables you to do according to right reason, and in the fate that is assigned you without your own choice; if, I say, you see anything better than this, turn to it with all your soul, and enjoy that which you have found to be best. But if nothing appears to you better than the divinity planted in you, which has subjected all your appetites and carefully examines all impressions, and, as Socrates said, has detached itself from the persuasions of sense, and has submitted itself to the gods, and cares for mankind; if all things else are trifles compared with this, give way to nothing else. For if you once diverge and incline to that, you will no longer without distraction be able to give preference to the good thing which is your own proper possession; for it is not right that anything of another kind, such as popular praise, or power, or enjoyment of pleasure, should compete for a place with that which is rationally and socially good. Such things, even though they may seem for a moment to be harmonious, all at once get the mastery and carry us away. But do you, I say, simply and freely choose the better part and hold to it. "But that which is useful is the better." Well then, if it is useful to you as a rational being, keep to it; but if it is only useful to you as an animal, say so. Maintain your judgment without arrogance: only take care that you make the inquiry by a sure method.

Think nothing profitable to you which compels you to break a promise, to lose your self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything that needs walls and curtains about it. For he who values his own intelligence and the divinity within him and the worship of its excellence before all else, plays no tragic part, does not groan, does not need either solitude or much company. And, what is more than all, he lives without either pursuing or flying from life; but whether for a longer or a shorter time his soul shall stay enclosed in his body, he cares not at all. Even if he must depart immediately, he will go as readily as if he were doing anything else which can be done decently and with order. All through life he takes care of this only, that his thoughts turn not away from what should concern an intelligent being and a member of a civil community.

In the mind of one disciplined and purified you will find no corrupt matter, or impurity, or any sore skinned over. Nor when fate overtakes him is his life incomplete, as one may say, if an actor who leaves the stage before quite finishing the play. Besides, there is in him nothing servile, or affected, or too closely bound, or yet detached; nothing worthy of blame, nothing that seeks a hiding-place.

Honor the faculty which produces opinion. On this faculty it entirely depends whether there exists in your ruling part any opinion inconsistent with nature and the constitution of a rational being. And this faculty urges freedom from hasty judgment, friendship towards men, and obedience to the gods.

10.

Cast away then all other things, hold only to these few truths; bear in mind also that every man lives only in the present, which is an indivisible point, and that all the rest of his life is either past or uncertain. Short then is the time which any man lives; and short too the longest posthumous fame, and even this is handed on by a succession of poor human beings, who will very soon die, and who know not even themselves, much less one who died long ago.

11.

To the aids already mentioned add this one also: Make for yourself a definition or description of every object presented to you, so as to see distinctly what it is in its own naked substance, complete and entire, and tell yourself its proper name, and the names of the things of which it is compounded and into which it will be dissolved. For nothing so elevates the mind as to be able to examine methodically and truly every object which comes before you in life, and always to look at things so as to see at once what kind of universe this is, and what kind of service each performs in it, and what value each has in relation to the whole, and what it has for man, who is a citizen of that loftiest city, to which all other cities are as families. What is this thing, and of what is it composed, and how long will it naturally last, this thing which now makes an impression on me? What virtue does it demand of me; is it gentleness, courage, truth, fidelity, simplicity, contentment, and the rest? Thus, on every occasion, a man should say: "This comes from God"; or, "This is from the decree and spinning of the thread of destiny, or some such coincidence and chance"; or, "This is from one of the same stock as myself, a kinsman and partner, but who knows not his true relation to nature. I do know, and for this reason I act towards him in accordance with the natural law of fellowship, benevolently and justly. At the same time, in things indifferent I attempt to judge the value of each."

12.

If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you were bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, but satisfied to live now according to nature, speaking heroic truth in every word which you utter, you will live happy. And there is no man able to prevent this.

13.

As surgeons always have their instruments and knives ready for cases which suddenly need their skill, so do you have principles ready for the understanding of things divine and human, and for every act, even the smallest, remembering the bond which unites the divine and human to one another. For neither will you do any human thing well without at the same time having regard to things divine, nor vice versa.

14.

No longer wander at random. You shall not live to read your own memoirs, or the acts of the ancient Romans and Greeks, or the selections from books which you were reserving for your old age. Hasten then to the goal which you have before you. Throw away vain hopes and come to your own aid, while yet you may, if you care at all for yourself.

15.

Men know not how many things are signified by the words stealing, sowing, buying, keeping the peace, seeing what ought to be done; for this cannot be done by the eyes, but by another kind of vision.

16.

Body, soul, mind: to the body belong sensations, to the soul impulses, to the mind principles. To receive the impressions of forms by means of sense belongs to all animals; to be pulled by the strings of desire belongs both to wild beasts and to womanish men, to a Phalaris and a Nero; to have a mind that selects what it thinks suitable belongs also to men who do not believe in the gods, who betray their country, and do impure deeds when they have shut the doors. If then all these qualities are common to the creatures I have mentioned, there is still what is peculiar to the good man, to be pleased and content with what happens, and with the thread which is spun for him; and not to defile the divinity which is planted in his breast, or disturb it by a crowd of impressions, but to preserve it tranquil, following it obediently as a god, neither saying anything contrary to truth, nor doing anything contrary to justice. And if the world refuses to believe in his simplicity, modesty, and contentment, he is neither angry with anyone, nor does he deviate from the path which leads to the end of life, to which a man ought to come pure, calm, ready to depart, freely and perfectly reconciled to his lot.

IV

When the ruling mind acts according to nature, it so takes the events which happen as to always easily adapt itself to whatever is presented to it and whatever is possible. For it requires no special materials, but moves toward its purpose, imposing only certain conditions. It makes material for itself out of what opposes it, as fire lays hold of what falls into it. A small light might have been extinguished; but when the fire is strong, it soon appropriates to itself the stuff which is heaped on it, consumes it, and rises higher by means of this very material.

Do every act with a purpose, and according to the perfect rules of art.

Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, seashores, and mountains; and you too are wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the common sort of man, for it is in your power, whenever you shall choose, to retire into yourself. For nowhere with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is at once perfectly tranquil; and this tranquillity, I am sure, is nothing but the good ordering of the mind. Constantly then grant yourself this retreat and refreshment; let your principles be brief and fundamental, which, as soon as you shall call them to mind, will be sufficient to cleanse the soul completely, and send you back free from all discontent with the stale things to which you return. For with what are you discontented? With the wickedness of mankind? Recall to your mind these ideas, that rational animals were made for one another, that forbearance is a part of justice, that men do wrong involuntarily. Consider how many already have lived in mutual enmity, suspicion, hatred, and conflict, and now lie dead, reduced to ashes; and be quiet at last. But perhaps you are dissatisfied with what is assigned you out of the universe. Recall to your thoughts this alternative: either there is a providence or only atoms; remember the arguments by which it has been proved that the world is, as it were, one city or community. But perhaps bodily ailments still distress you. Consider then that the mind, when it has once drawn apart and discovered its own power, alters not with the breath, whether that comes gently or violently; think also of all that you have heard and assented to about pain and pleasure. But perhaps a longing for the thing called fame torments you. See how soon everything is forgotten; look at the chaos of infinite time on each side of the present, and the emptiness of applause, and the fickleness and poor judgment of those who pretend to praise, and the narrowness of the space within which it is confined. For the whole earth is but a point, and in that how small a nook is this your dwelling, and how few are there within it, and what kind of people are they who will praise you? Remember then to retire into this little realm of your own; above all, do not distract or strain yourself, but be free and look at things as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as a mortal. Among the maxims readiest to your hand to which you shall return, let there be these two: one, that things cannot touch the soul, for they are external and remain motionless, and our perturbations spring from the opinion that is within; the other, that all these things, which you see, are changing now and soon will no longer be; bear constantly in mind how many of these changes you have already witnessed. The universe is transformation: life is a succession of views.

If the faculty of understanding is common to us all, the reason also, through which we are rational beings, is common. If this is so, common also is that reason which tells us what to do, and what not to do. If this is so, there is a law common to all men also. If this is so, we are fellow citizens and members of some political community, and thus the world is in a way one commonwealth. Of what other common political community will anyone say that the whole human race are members? And from thence, from this share in a common community, comes also our intellectual faculty and reasoning faculty and our capacity for law; from where else do they come? For as my earthly part is my portion of certain earth, and my watery part from another element, and what is hot and fiery in me comes from some other distinct source (for nothing comes out of nothing, just as nothing returns to nonexistence), so also my intellectual part has its own origin.

Death, like generation, is a mystery of nature, a combining of certain elements, and a dissolving into the same; in no wise a thing of which a man should be ashamed, for it is appropriate to the nature of a rational animal, and not contrary to the design of our constitution.

Some things are naturally done by some kinds of persons; it is a matter of necessity; and if a man will not have it so, he will not allow a fig tree to have juice. But bear this firmly in mind, that within a very short time both you and he will be dead; and soon not even your names will be left behind.

Take away your opinion, and there is taken away the complaint, "I have been hurt." Take away the complaint, "I have been hurt," and the hurt is gone.

Whatever does not make a man worse does not make his life worse, nor does it harm him either without or within.

It was expedient in nature that it should be so, and therefore necessary.

10.

Consider that everything which happens, happens justly, and if you observe carefully, you will find it to be so. I do not say this only as regards the continuity of the sequence of things, but as regards what is just, as if it were ordered by one who assigns to everything its value. Observe then, as you have begun; and whatever you do, do it as befits that character of goodness in the sense in which a man is rightfully supposed to be good. Hold to this rule in every act.

11.

Do not have the opinion of things that he has who does you wrong, or that he wishes you to have, but look at them as they are in truth.

12.

A man should always have these two rules in readiness: first, to do only what the reason of your ruling and legislating faculty suggests for the service of men; second, to change your opinion, whenever anyone at hand sets you right and unsettles you in an opinion. But this change of opinion should come only because you are persuaded that something is just or to the public advantage, and the like, not because it appears pleasant or increases your reputation.

13.

Have you reason? "I have." Why, then, do you not use it? For if it does its own proper work what else do you wish?

14.

You have lived as a part. You shall disappear in that which produced you; rather, you shall be received back into the creative principle by a transformation.

15.

Many grains of frankincense on the same altar; one falls first, another after; but it makes no difference.

16.

If you will return to your principles and the worship of reason, within ten days you will seem a god to those to whom you are now a beast and an ape.

17.

Do not act as if you would live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.

18.

How much trouble he avoids who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only what he does himself, that it may be just and pure. As Agathon says, "Look not around at the depraved morals of others, but run straight along your course without straying from it."

19.

He who feels an overwhelming desire for posthumous fame does not consider that all those who remember him will themselves also die very soon; then they also who succeed them, until the whole remembrance of him is extinguished, for it is transmitted by men who foolishly admire and perish. Even suppose that those who remember you are immortal, and that the remembrance will be immortal, what then is it to you? Not only what is it to the dead, but what is it to the living? What is praise, except indeed so far as it has some utility? And you are now ignoring unseasonably the present gift of nature, clinging to what someone says hereafter.

20.

Whatever is in any way beautiful is beautiful in itself, and has its end in itself, and praise is no part of it. Neither worse then nor better is a thing made by being praised. I say this too of things called beautiful by the vulgar, for example, material things and works of art. That which is really beautiful has no need of anything; no more than law, no more than truth, no more than generosity or modesty. Which of these things is made beautiful by being praised, or spoiled by being blamed? Is a jewel like an emerald damaged if it is not praised? Or gold, ivory, purple, a lyre, a dagger, a flower, a shrub?

21.

If souls go on living, how does the air hold them all from eternity? But how, we reply, does the earth have room for the bodies of those who have been buried from times so remote? Just as here the changing of these bodies after lasting a certain time, and their dissolution, make room for other dead bodies, so the souls which are released into the air, after subsisting for a while, are transmuted and diffused, and turned into fire and absorbed into the creative intelligence of the universe, and in this way make room for the fresh souls which come to dwell there. This is the answer which a man might give, supposing that souls continue to exist. And we must think not only of the number of bodies which are thus buried, but also of the number that are daily eaten by us and the other animals. What a number is consumed, and thus in a manner buried in the bodies of those who feed on them! Nevertheless, the earth receives them too through the changing of these bodies into blood, and their transformation into air or fire. How can we find the truth in this case? Divide it into what is matter and what is cause ( VII, 29).

22.

Do not be tossed about, but in every act have respect for justice, and at every impression preserve the faculty of understanding.

23.

Everything is right for me, which is right for you, O Universe. Nothing for me is too early or too late, which comes in due time for you. Everything is fruit to me which your seasons bring, O Nature. From you are all things, in you are all things, to you all things return. The poet says, "Dear city of Cecrops"; and will you not say, "Dear city of Zeus"?

24.

"Busy yourself with but few things," says the philosopher, "if you would be tranquil." But consider if it would not be better to say, "Do what is necessary, and whatever the reason of an animal naturally social requires, and as it requires"? For this brings not only the tranquillity which comes from doing well, but also that which comes from doing few things. For most of what we say and do is unnecessary, and if a man leaves them out, he will have more leisure and less trouble. So on every occasion a man should ask himself, "Is this one of the unnecessary things?" Further, a man should leave off not only unnecessary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts, for thus superfluous acts will not follow after.

25.

Try how the life of the good man suits you, the life of one content with his portion of the whole, and with his own just acts and kindly disposition.

26.

Have you seen this side? Look also at the other. Do not be disturbed. Make yourself all simplicity. Does anyone do wrong? It is himself that he wrongs. Has anything happened to you? Well, within the universe from the beginning every event was apportioned and allotted to you. In a word, your life is short. You must make the most of the present with the aid of reason and justice. Be sober even in your relaxation.

27.

Either it is a well-ordered universe or a chaos huddled together, though still a universe. But can order subsist in you, and disorder in the All? And this too when all things are so separate and diffused and yet sympathetic?

28.

A black character-a womanish character, a stubborn character, bestial, childish, animal, stupid, false, scurrilous, fraudulent, tyrannical.

29.

If the man is a stranger to the universe who does not know what is in it, no less is he a stranger who does not know what is going on in it. He is a runaway, who flies from the concerns of society; he is blind, who shuts the eyes of his understanding; he is poor, who has need of another, and finds not in himself all things helpful for life. He is a sore on the universe who withdraws and separates himself from the reason of our common nature and is displeased with the things that happen; for the same nature that produces them has produced you too. He is a social outcast, who cuts his own soul off from the one common soul of all reasonable beings.

30.

This is a philosopher without a tunic, the other is without a book. Here is another half naked: "Bread I have not," he says, "but I abide by reason." And I get no livelihood out of my learning, but I abide by reason.

31.

Love the art, poor as it may be, which you have learned, and be content with it; and pass through the rest of life like one who has with his whole soul entrusted to the gods all that he has; be neither the tyrant nor the slave of any man.

32.

Consider, for an example, the times of Vespasian. You will see all the same things, people marrying, bringing up children, sick, dying, fighting, feasting, trafficking, farming, flattering, pushing, suspecting, plotting, wishing for someone to die, grumbling about the present, loving, heaping up treasure, coveting the consulship and kingly power. Well, the life of those people is all over. Come on next to the time of Trajan. Again, all is the same. Their life too is gone. In like manner survey other epochs of time and other nations, and see how many after mighty efforts fell and were resolved into the elements. But chiefly recall those whom you yourself have known, distracting themselves about vanities, neglecting to do what was in accord with their proper nature, and to hold firmly to it and be content with it. And here you must remember to give attention to everything in its proper value and proportion. For then you will not be dissatisfied, if you give to trifles no more care than is fit.

33.

The words that once were in current use are now antiquated; so also the names of men famed of old are now growing antiquated-Camillus, Caeso, Volesus, Leonatus, and soon it will be so of Scipio and Cato, then Augustus, then also Hadrian and Antoninus. For all things quickly pass away and become a mere tale, and oblivion buries them. And this I say of men who shone in a wondrous way. As for the rest, as soon as they have breathed out their breath, they are gone, and no one speaks of them. In conclusion, what is even eternal fame? A mere nothing. What then is there for which we ought to take serious pains? Only this: to have thoughts just, acts social, words which never lie, and a disposition which gladly accepts whatever happens, as necessary, as usual, as flowing from a principle and source of a familiar kind.

34.

Willingly give yourself up to Clotho allowing her to spin your thread into whatever she pleases.

35.

Everything lasts only for a day, both that which remembers and that which is remembered.

36.

Observe constantly that all things come about by change; accustom yourself to reflect that the nature of the universe loves nothing so much as changing things that are and making new things like them. For everything that exists is in a way the seed of what will be. But you are thinking only of the seeds which are cast into the earth or into a womb; this is a very dull notion.

37.

You soon will die, and you are not yet simple, nor free from perturbations, and the dread of being hurt by external things, nor are you kindly disposed toward all; nor do you yet see that wisdom consists only in acting justly.

38.

Examine men's ruling principles, especially those of the wise, what kind of things they avoid, and what kind they pursue.

39.

Your evil lies not in another man's mind; nor yet in any change and mutation of your bodily covering. Where is it then? It is in that part of you that has the power of forming opinions about evil. Let this power then not form opinions, and all is well. If that which is nearest to it, the poor body, is cut, burnt, filled with matter and rottenness, nevertheless let the part which forms opinions about such things be quiet; that is, let it judge that nothing is either bad or good that can happen equally to the bad man and the good. For that which happens equally to one who lives contrary to nature and to one who lives according to nature, is neither according to nature nor contrary to nature.

40.

Regard the universe often as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things act with one movement; and how all things co-operate as the causes of all that exists; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the single texture of the web.

41.

You are a little soul bearing about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.

42.

It is not evil for things to undergo change, nor good for things to arise in consequence of change.

43.

Time is like a river made up of events that happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has appeared it is carried away, and another comes in its place; and this will be carried away too.

44.

Everything that happens is as familiar and well known as a rose in spring and fruit in summer; such as disease, and death, and calumny, and treachery, and whatever else delights fools or vexes them.

45.

In the sequence of things those which follow are always aptly fitted to those which have gone before; for the sequence is not like a mere string of disjointed things, which has only an enforced order, but it is a rational connection; and as all existing things are arranged harmoniously together, so the things that come into existence keep not merely a succession, but a certain wonderful relationship (VI, 38; VII, 9).

46.

Always remember the saying of Heraclitus, that earth dies to become water, and water dies to become air, and air dies to become fire, and conversely. And think too of him who forgets whither the way leads, and the men who quarrel with what they most intimately commune with, the reason that governs the universe; and think the things they daily meet with are strange. Consider that we ought not to act and speak as if we were asleep, for in sleep we seem to be acting and speaking; and that we ought not, like children who learn only from their parents, simply act and speak as we have been taught.

47.

If any god told you that you should die tomorrow, or certainly the day after tomorrow, you would not care much whether it was the third day or the morrow, unless you were completely mean-spirited-for the difference is too small to consider. So think it no great matter to die after as many years as you can name rather than tomorrow.

48.

Constantly remember how many physicians are dead after contracting their eyebrows over the sick so many times; and how many astrologers, after predicting with great to-do the deaths of others; and how many philosophers, after endless discourses on death or immortality; how many heroes, after killing thousands; how many tyrants, who used their power over other men's lives with terrible insolence as if they themselves were immortal; and how many cities are entirely dead; Helice and Pompeii and Herculaneum, and others innumerable. Add to your reckoning all whom you have known, one after another. One man after burying another is laid out dead, and another buries him; and all this in a short time. In conclusion, observe always how ephemeral and worthless human things are, and how what was yesterday a little juice, tomorrow will be a mummy or ashes. Pass then through this moment of time in harmony with nature, and end your journey in content, as an olive falls when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.

49.

Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it. Am I unhappy, because this has happened to me? Not so, but I am happy, though this has happened to me, because I am still free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future. For such a thing might have happened to any man; but every man would not have remained free from pain on such an occasion. Why then is the former rather a misfortune than the latter a good fortune? And do you in any case call that a misfortune, which is not a violation of man's nature? And does a thing seem to you a violation of man's nature, when it is not contrary to the purpose of man's nature? Well, you know the purpose of nature. Will this which has happened prevent you from being just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, secure against rash opinions and falsehood; will it keep you from having modesty, freedom, and every other quality, the presence of which gives to man's nature all that is its own? Remember, too, this maxim on every occasion that tempts you to vexation: "This is not a misfortune; and to bear it nobly is good fortune."

50.

It is a simple but still a useful help towards contempt of death, to pass in review those persons who tenaciously stuck to life. What more did they gain than those who died early? Certainly they lie in their tombs somewhere at last, Cadicianus, Fabius, Julianus, Lepidus, and others like them, who carried out many to be buried, and then were carried out themselves. All in all, the interval between birth and death is small; consider with how much trouble, and in what sort of company and in what a feeble body this interval is laboriously passed. Do not then consider life a thing of any value. For look to the immensity of time behind you, and to the time which is before you, another boundless space. In this infinity then what difference is there between one who lives three days and one who lives three generations?

51.

Always hasten by the short way: and the short way is the natural one. Say and do everything in conformity with sound reason. For such a rule frees a man from trouble and strife and artifice and ostentatious display.

V

Whenever in the morning you rise unwillingly, let this thought be with you: "I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am about to do the things for which I was brought into the world? Or was I made to lie under the bedclothes and keep myself warm?" "But that is more pleasant," you say. Do you live then to take your pleasure, and not at all for action and exertion? Do you not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees, working together to set in order their several parts of the universe? And are you unwilling to do the work of a human being, not eager to do what belongs to your nature? "But I must have rest also." You must; nature, however, has fixed bounds to this. She has fixed bounds too to both eating and drinking, yet you go beyond these bounds, beyond what is enough; yet in your work it is not so, and you stop short of what you can do. So you love not yourself, for if you did, you would love your nature and her will. Those who love their own trades exhaust themselves in working at them, unwashed and without food; but you value your own nature less than the carpenter values his craft, or the dancer his dancing art, or the lover of money his money, or the vainglorious man his little glory. Such men, when they have a strong love for a thing, choose neither to eat nor to sleep until they perfect the thing they care for. But is service to society less valuable in your eyes and less worthy of your labor?

How easy it is to obliterate and wipe away every impression which is troublesome or unsuitable, and immediately to be in complete tranquillity.

Think no word and deed beneath you which is in accordance with nature; and be not diverted by some people's faultfinding, nor by their words, but if a thing is good to do or say, do not consider it unworthy of you. For these other persons have their own guiding principle and follow their own impulses. Do not regard such things, but go straight on, following your nature and the common nature; and the way of both is one.

I pass through the things which happen according to nature until I fall and rest, breathing out my breath into that element from which I daily draw it in, and falling upon that earth out of which my father collected his seed, and my mother her blood, and my nurse her milk; out of which for so many years I have been supplied with food and drink; which bears me when I tread on it and abuse it for my many purposes.

You say that you have no keenness of wit. Be it so; but there are many other things of which you cannot say that nature has not endowed you. Show those qualities then which are perfectly in your power-sincerity, gravity, patience in labor, aversion to pleasure, contentment with your lot and with little, frankness, dislike of superfluity, freedom from pettiness. Do you not see how many qualities you are immediately able to exhibit, as to which you have no excuse of natural incapacity and unfitness, and yet you still remain voluntarily below what you might be? Or are you compelled because nature furnished you poorly to murmur, and be stingy, and to flatter, and to find fault with your poor body, and to try to please other men, and to make a great display, and to be so restless in your mind? No, by the gods; you might have been delivered from these things long ago. But if in truth you can be accused of being rather slow and dull of comprehension, you must exert yourself about this also, not neglecting it nor yet finding pleasure in your dullness.

One man, when he has done a service to another, is ready to set it down on his account as a favor conferred. Another is not apt to do this, but still in his own mind he thinks of the other man as his debtor, and knows what he has done. A third hardly knows what he has done, but is like a vine which has produced grapes, and asks nothing more once it has produced its proper fruit. As a horse when it has run its race, a dog when it has tracked its game, a bee when it has made its honey, so a man when he has done a good act does not call out for others to come and see, but goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season. "Should a man then be 'One of these, who act thus without being conscious of it?" Yes. "But a man must observe what he is doing; for it is characteristic of the social animal to perceive that he is working in a social manner, and, then, to want his companion also to perceive it." It is true what you say, but you do not rightly understand what I have now said; for this reason you will become one of those I first mentioned, for they are misled by a certain show of reason. But if you will choose to understand the meaning of what I said, do not fear that on that account you will omit any social act.

A prayer of the Athenians: "Rain, rain, O dear Zeus, down on the plowed fields of the Athenians and on the plains." In truth we either ought not to pray at all, or we ought to pray in this simple and noble fashion.

Just as we understand when we are told that Aesculapius prescribed for this man horseback exercise or bathing in cold water or going without shoes; so we must understand it when we are told that nature prescribed for this man sickness or mutilation or loss or something else of the kind. For in the first case, prescribed means something like this: he prescribed this treatment for this man as a thing adapted to restore health; in the second case it means that which happens to each man is fixed for him in a manner suitable to his destiny. For this is what we mean when we say that things are suitable to us, as workmen say of squared stones in walls or pyramids, that they are suitable when they fit together into a given whole. For in everything there is one fitness. And as the universe is made up of all bodies to be the body it is, so out of all existing causes fate is made up to be the cause it is. Even ignorant people understand what I mean, for they say, "This thing befell So-and-So. This then was sent, and this was appointed to him." Let us then accept our destiny, as well as the prescriptions of Aesculapius. Many, as a matter of fact, even among his prescriptions are disagreeable, but we accept them in the hope of health. Take the performing and accomplishment of the things which common nature judges to be good, as you take your health. So accept everything which happens, even though it seems disagreeable, because it leads to the health of the universe and to the prosperity and felicity of Zeus. 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 under its direction. For two reasons then you should be content with whatever happens to you; first, because it was done for you and prescribed for you, and had some reference to you from the beginning, and the most ancient causes spun it with your destiny; secondly, because even that which happens separately to each individual is to the power which administers the universe a cause of felicity and perfection, nay even of its own continuance. For the perfection of the whole is mutilated, if you cut off anything whatever from the network and continuity of either the parts or the causes. And you do cut something off, as far as it is in your power, when you are displeased and try to put it out of your way.

Be not unhappy, or discouraged, or dissatisfied, if you do not succeed in acting always by the right principles; but when you have failed, try again, and be content if most of your acts are consistent with man's nature. Love that to which you return; do not return to philosophy as if she were a schoolmaster, but behave like those who have sore eyes and apply a bit of sponge or an egg, or like another who applies a plaster or a water lotion. For thus you will not fail to obey reason, and will find rest in it. And remember that philosophy requires only the things which your nature requires. But you would have something else which is not according to nature. You may object: "Why, what could be more agreeable than this I am doing? " But is not this just how pleasure deceives us? And consider whether magnanimity, freedom, simplicity, equanimity, piety, are not more agreeable. And what is more agreeable than wisdom itself, when you think of the security and the happy course of all things which result from the faculty of understanding and knowledge?

10.

The world is so enveloped in veils that it has seemed to many distinguished philosophers altogether unintelligible. Nay even to the Stoics themselves it is difficult to understand. And all our views are changeable; for where is the man who never changes? Carry your thoughts then on to the objects themselves, and consider how short-lived they are and worthless, and how they may be the possession of a filthy wretch or a whore or a robber. Then turn to the morals of those who lived with you; hardly is it possible to endure even the best of them, to say nothing of being hardly able to endure oneself. In such darkness and dirt, in so constant a flux of substance and time and motion and things moved, what there is worth being highly prized or even seriously pursued, I cannot imagine. On the other hand, it is a man's duty to comfort himself, and wait for his natural dissolution and not be vexed at the delay, but rest in these two ideas: first, that nothing will happen to me which is not in harmony with the nature of the universe; and second, that it is in my power never to act contrary to my god and divinity, for there is no man who can compel me to this.

11.

About what am I now employing my soul? Frequently I must ask myself this question, and inquire, what have I now in that part of me they call the ruling principle? And whose soul have I now-that of a child, of a young man, of a feeble woman, of a tyrant, of a domestic animal, or of a wild beast?

12.

What kind of things they are that the crowd thinks good, we may learn from this. If man should decide on certain things as being really good, such as prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude, he would not, after having decided on them, consent to listen to anything not in harmony with the really good. But if a man has accepted as good the things which appear good to the crowd, he will yet listen and enjoy as very appropriate the jibes of the comic writers. Thus even the crowd perceives the difference. For were it not so, a jibe against real good would not offend and would not be rejected, while, when applied to wealth, and methods for getting luxury or fame, we accept it as fitting and witty. Go on then and ask if we should value and believe those things to be good to which, when we think of them, we know the jest of the comic writer might be aptly applied-that he who has them, through pure excess of luxury has not a spot to be comfortable in.

13.

I am composed of form and matter; neither of them will perish into nothingness, as neither of them came into being out of nothingness. Every part of me then will be reduced by change into some other part of the universe, that again will change into another part of the universe, and so on forever. And as a result of such a change, I too now exist, and those who begot me existed, and so on forever in the other direction. For nothing prevents us from saying this, even if the universe works by definite periods of revolution.

14.

Reason and the reasoning art-philosophy-are powers sufficient to themselves and for their own work. They start from a first principle which is their own, and make their way to the end which they set before them; and this is why reasonable acts are called right acts, for they proceed by the right road.

15.

None of the things ought to be called a man's which do not belong to him, as man. Such things are not required of a man, nor does man's nature promise them, nor are they a means by which man's nature attains its end. Neither then docs the end of man lie in such things, nor that which consummates this end, that is, the good. Besides, if any such things did belong to man, it would not be right for him to despise them and set himself against them; nor would a man deserve praise who showed that he did not want these things, nor would he who stinted himself 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, when he is deprived of any of them, the more patiently he endures the loss, to that same degree he is a better man.

16.

Such as are your constant thoughts, such will be the character of your mind; for the soul is colored by the thoughts. Color it then with a continuous line of thoughts such as these: that wherever a man can live, there he can also live well. "But he has to live in a palace." Well then, he can live well even in a palace. Again, consider that for whatever purpose a thing has been designed, for this it has been designed, and towards this it is carried; and where the end is, there also is the advantage and the good of the thing. Now the good for a reasonable animal is society; that we are made for society I have shown already. Is it not plain that lower things exist for the sake of the higher? And the things which have life are superior to the things which have not; and of living beings the higher are those which have reason.

17.

To look for the impossible is folly: and it is impossible that bad men should not do bad deeds.

18.

Nothing happens to any man which he is not framed by nature to bear. The same misfortunes may happen to another, who either because he does not see what has happened or because he wants to show a great spirit, is firm and comes out unharmed. It is a shame to let ignorance and complacency be stronger than wisdom.

19.

Outward things cannot touch 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. Whatever judgments it may think proper to make, it makes for itself of the things which present themselves to it.

20.

Man is the nearest thing to me, in just so far as I must do good to men and bear with them. But when men act as obstacles to my proper work, man becomes to me one of the things that are indifferent, as much so as the sun or wind or a wild beast. These, it is true, may impede my work, but they are no hindrance to my intentions and disposition, which have the power of changing and adapting themselves to conditions. For the mind converts and changes every obstacle to its activity into an aid; so that obstacles to action actually further it and help us along the road.

21.

Honor what is best in the universe; this is what controls all things and directs all things. In like manner, honor also what is best in yourself; and this is akin to the other. For in yourself also, it is that which controls everything else, and your life is directed by it.

22.

That which does no harm to the state does no harm to the citizen. In the case of any appearance of harm, apply this rule: "If the state is not harmed by this, neither am I hurt." But if the state is harmed, you must not be angry with him who injures the state; show him where his error is.

23.

Think often of the speed with which things pass and disappear, both the things which are and the things which are being produced. For matter is like a river in a continual flow, and the activities of things are constantly shifting, and the causes work in infinite varieties; there is hardly anything which stands still. And consider this which stands near you, this boundless abyss of the past and the future in which all things disappear. Why then is he not a fool who is puffed up over such things or plagued about them, making himself miserable? For they vex him only for a time, and a very short time.

24.

Think of universal substance, of which you have a very small portion; and of universal time, of which a short and indivisible moment has been assigned to you; and of the fate which is fixed by destiny, and how small a part of it you are.

25.

Does another do me wrong? Let him look to it. The disposition was his and the activity was his. I have what universal nature wills me to have; and I do what my own nature wills me to do.

26.

Let that part of your soul which leads and governs be undisturbed by motions of the flesh, whether of pleasure or of pain; let it not mingle with them, but let it set a wall
around itself and keep those emotions in their place. But when the emotions rise up to the mind by virtue of the sympathy that naturally exists in a body which is all one, then you must not strive to resist the feeling, for it is natural: but let not your ruling part add to the feeling the opinion that it is either good or bad.

27.

Live with the gods. And he does live with the gods who constantly shows them that his soul is satisfied with what is assigned to him, and that it obeys all the divinity wills-that divinity which Zeus has given every man as his guardian and guide, a portion of himself, his understanding and reason.

28.

Are you irritated with one whose arm-pits smell? Are you angry with one whose mouth has a foul odor? What good will your anger do you? He has this mouth, he has these armpits. Such emanations must come from such things. "But the man has reason," you will say, "and he could, if he took pains, discover wherein he offends." I wish you well of your discovery. Now you too have reason; by your rational faculty, stir up his rational faculty; show him his fault, admonish him. For if he listens, you will cure him, and have no need of anger – you are not a ranter or a whore.

29.

As you intend to live hereafter, it is in your power to live here. But if men do not permit you, then slip away out of life, yet as if you felt it no harm. The house is smoky, and I leave it. Why do you call this trouble? But as long as nothing of the kind drives me out, I stay, I am free, and no man shall hinder me from doing what I choose; and I choose to do what befits the nature of a rational and social animal.

30.

The mind of the universe is social. Accordingly it has made inferior things for the sake of superior, and has tied the superior to one another. You see how it has subordinated, co-ordinated, and assigned to each its proper lot, and brought together into concord with one another the things which are best.

31.

How have you behaved hitherto towards the gods, your parents, brothers, children, teachers, towards those who looked after your infancy, your friends, kinsfolk, slaves?
Consider if you have hitherto behaved to them all in such a way that it may be said of you:
Never has he wronged a man in deed or word
And call to recollection how many things you have experienced, and how many things you have endured; and how the history of your life is now complete and your service ended; and how many beautiful things you have seen: and how many pleasures and pains you have despised; and how many things called honors you have spurned; and to how many ill-minded folks you have shown a kind disposition.

32.

Why do unskilled and ignorant souls confound those who have skill and wisdom? But what soul has skill and wisdom? The soul which knows beginning and end, and knows the reason which pervades all substance and which through all eternity in periodic cycles administers the universe.

33.

Soon, very soon, you will be ashes or a skeleton, a name or not even a name; and what is name but sound and echo? And the things much valued in life are empty and rotten and trifling, like little dogs biting one another, and like children quarreling, laughing, and then straightway weeping. But fidelity and modesty and justice and truth are fled
Up to Olympus from the wide-spread earth
What then is there now to detain you here, if the objects of sense are changeable and never stand still, and our organs of perception are dull and easily receive false impressions, and the poor soul itself is an exhalation from the blood. But wide repute amidst such a world as this is an empty thing. Why then do you not wait in tranquillity for your end, whether that is extinction or removal to another state? And until that time comes, what is your duty? Why, what else but to venerate the gods and bless them, and do good to men, and practice tolerance and self-restraint; but as to whatever lies beyond the confines of your poor flesh and breath, to remember that it is neither yours nor in your power.

34.

You can pass your life in a calm flow of happiness, if you can take the right way, and think and act in the right way. The two things common both to the soul of God and to the soul of man, and to the soul of every rational being, are not to be hindered in their purpose by another; and to hold as good the disposition to justice and the practice of it, and in this to let your desire find its satisfaction.

35.

If the fault is neither my own nor the result of my own badness, and the common weal is not hurt, why trouble about it? What hurt is it to the common weal?

36.

Do not be carried away rashly by the appearance of things. Help everyone according to your ability and their fitness. If they have suffered a loss in matters indifferent, do not imagine it to be a calamity, for that is a bad habit; but as the old man, when he went away, asked for his foster-child's top, remembering that it was a top, so do you in this case also. When you are declaiming on the rostra, have you forgotten, man, what these things really are? "Yes, but they are matters of great importance to the people." Will you too then be made a fool for these things? Wheresoever stranded, I can at any time become a man of fortune, for fortune means that a man has found for himself a happy lot; and a happy lot is a good disposition of the soul, good impulses, good actions.

VI

The substance of the universe is obedient and pliable, and the reason which governs it has itself no cause for doing evil, for it has no malice, nor does it do evil to anything, nor is anything harmed by it. But all things are made and perfected through this reason.

Care not whether you are cold or warm, if you are doing your duty; or whether you are weary or satisfied with sleep; or whether ill-spoken of or praised, or whether dying or doing anything else; for dying is one of the acts of life; it is enough in this act also to do well what there is to do (VI, 28).

Look beneath the surface. Let neither the peculiar quality of anything nor its value escape you.

All existing things change quickly; and they will either be reduced to vapor, if indeed all substance is one, or they will be dispersed.

The reason which governs knows what its own nature is, and what it does, and on what material it works.

The best way of avenging yourself is not to become like the wrongdoer.

Take pleasure and comfort in one thing, in passing from one social act to another social act, thinking of God.

The ruling mind rouses and turns itself, and while it makes itself what it is and what it wills to be, it also makes everything that happens appear to be what it wills it shall be.

In accord with the nature of the universe every single thing takes place; certainly it is not according to any other nature that they are brought to pass, whether a nature that outwardly envelopes this, or a nature that is included within this nature, or a nature outside and independent of this (XI, 1; VI, 40; VIII, 5).

10.

The universe is either a confusion, an intermingling of atoms, and a scattering; or it is unity and order and providence. If it is the former, why do I wish to tarry amid such a haphazard confusion and disorder? Why do I care about anything but how I may at last become earth? And why do I trouble myself, for my elements will be scattered, whatever I do. But if the other supposition is true, I revere, I stand firm, and I trust in him who governs (IV, 27).

11.

When circumstances have compelled you to be a little disturbed, return to yourself quickly, and do not continue out of tune longer than the compulsion lasts; for you will be more the master of the harmony by continually returning to it.

12.

Suppose you had a stepmother and a mother at the same time, you would be dutiful to your stepmother, but still you would constantly return to your mother. Let the court and philosophy now be to you as stepmother and mother; return to philosophy frequently and repose in her, for through her your life in the court becomes tolerable, and you are tolerable to the court.

13.

When we have meat before us and other viands, we still have the impression that this is but the dead body of a fish, and this but the dead body of a bird or of a pig; and again, that this Falernian wine is only a little grape juice, and this purple robe some sheep's wool dyed with the blood of a shellfish. Such then are our impressions, and they reach to the things themselves and penetrate them; so we see what kind of things they are. In just the same way ought we to act all through life, and where things appear most worthy of our liking, we should lay them bare and look at their worthlessness and strip them of all the words by which they were exalted. For outward show is a wonderful perverter of reason, and when you are most sure that the things you are busy about are worth your pains, it is then that it cheats you most. Consider what Crates says even of Xenocrates.

14.

Most things which the multitude admire are connected with objects of the most general kind, things formed by bare cohesion, or natural organisms, such as stones, wood, fig trees, vines, olives. But men, who are a little more rational, admire things united by some living principle, such as flocks and herds. Men who are still more instructed admire things inspired by a universal soul, but rational, such as a soul skilled in some art, or expert in some other way, or rational simply as possessing a number of slaves. But he who values a rational soul, that is, universal and framed for political life, regards nothing but this. Above all else he keeps his own soul in a condition and in an activity right for reason and social life, and he co-operates to this end with men of the same kind as himself.

15.

Some things are pressing into existence and others are hurrying out of it; and of that which is coming into existence a part is already extinguished. Motion and change are continually renewing the world, just as the uninterrupted course of time is always renewing the infinite duration of ages. In this flowing stream, on which there is no abiding, what is there of the things that hasten by on which a man would set a high price? It would be as if a man should fall in love with a sparrow flying by, that has already passed out of sight. Every man's life is but an exhalation of the blood and a little breathing of the air. For like drawing in the air and giving it back, which we do every moment, the whole quickening power, received at birth, is now given back to the element whence it came.

16.

Neither is transpiration, as in plants, a thing to be valued, nor respiration, as in tame animals and wild beasts, nor impressions from the appearance of things, nor subjection to desire, like a puppet on strings, nor crowding in herds, nor getting nourishment from food; this last is merely an act of separating and parting with the useless part of our food. What then is worth your esteem? To be greeted with clapping of hands? No. Neither should we value the clapping of tongues, for the praise of the multitude is a clapping of tongues. Suppose then that you have dispensed with the worthless thing called fame, what remains that is worth having? This, in my opinion, to move yourself and govern your self in harmony with your proper nature, which is the end of all occupations and all arts. For the aim of every art is right adaptation of the product to the end for which it is produced. The vine-planter who looks after his vines and the trainer of horses and dogs labor for this end. The education and teaching of youth aim also at something. In this is the value of the education and the teaching. And if this is achieved, you will not seek anything else. Will you go on desiring many other things too? Then you will be neither free, nor sufficient for your own happiness, nor clear of passion. For of necessity you must be envious, jealous, and suspicious of those who can take away the things valued by you and plot against those who have them. Of necessity a man must be always in a state of perturbation who wants any of these things; besides, he must often find fault with the gods. But to reverence and honor your own mind will make you content with yourself, and serviceable to society, and at peace with the gods, praising all they give and have ordained.

17.

Above, below, all around are the movements of the elements. But the motion of virtue is not theirs: it is something more divine; advancing by a way hardly observed, it goes happily on its road.

18.

How strangely men act! They will not praise those who are living at the same time with themselves; but to be themselves praised by posterity, by persons they have never seen and never will see, this they set a high value on. But it is much the same as if you should grieve because those who lived before you did not praise you.

19.

Because a thing is difficult for you to do do not think it is impossible for any man; but whatever is possible for any man to do and right for his nature, think that you can achieve it too.

20.

Suppose a man scratches you with his nails in gymnastic exercises and hits your head and wounds it. We show no signs of vexation, nor are we offended, nor do we suspect him afterwards as a treacherous fellow; we are on our guard against him, but not as an enemy, nor yet with suspicion, but we quietly get out of his way. Let your behavior be like this in all spheres of life; let us overlook many things in those who are only like antagonists in the gymnasium. For it is in our power, as I said, to get out of their way, and to feel no suspicion or hatred.

21.

If any man can convince and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek truth, by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance.

22.

I do my duty. Other things do not trouble me, for they are either things without life, or things without reason, or things that have wandered and know not the way.

23.

As for the animals which have no reason and, generally, all things and objects, since you have reason and they have none, use them in a generous and considerate spirit. Treat human beings, since they have reason, in a social spirit. And on all occasions call on the gods, and do not worry yourself over the length of time you shall spend doing this; even three hours so spent are well-spent.

24.

Alexander the Macedonian and his groom were brought by death to the same state; for either they were received back into the same creative principles of the universe, or they were alike dispersed among the atoms.

25.

Consider how many things in the same indivisible time take place in each of us, things affecting the body and things affecting the soul; then you will not wonder that many more things, or rather all things which come into existence in the one and the all which we call the Cosmos exist in it at the same time.

26.

If any man should ask you how to spell the name Antoninus, would you shout each letter angrily? What then, if he grows angry, will you be angry too? Or will you quietly tell him the letters? So in this life also remember that each duty is made up of certain parts. These it is your duty to observe and, without showing impatience or anger toward those who are angry with you, go on your way and finish that which is set before you.

27.

How cruel it is not to allow men to strive for the things which seem to them suitable to their natures and profitable! Yet in a way you are not allowing them to do this, when you are vexed because they do wrong. For they are certainly moved to do things they suppose to be suitable to their natures and profitable to them. "But it is not so." Teach them then, and show them without being angry.

28.

Death is a cessation of impressions through the senses, and of pulling of the strings which move our appetites, and of discursive movements of our thoughts, and of service to the flesh.

29.

It is a shame when the soul is first to give way in this life, and the body does not give way.

30.

Take care that you turn not into a Caesar, that you are not dyed with that dye; for such things happen. Keep yourself simple, good, pure, serious, free from affectation, a friend of justice, a worshiper of the gods, kind, affectionate, strenuous in all right acts. Strive to advance toward what philosophy tried to make you. Reverence the gods, and help men. Life is short. There is only one fruit of this earthly life, a pious disposition and social acts. Do everything as a disciple of Antoninus. Remember his constancy in rational behavior, his even temper in all things, his piety, and the serenity of his countenance, his sweetness, his disregard of empty fame, and his effort to understand things; how he would never let anything pass without having first carefully examined it and clearly understood it; how he bore with those who blamed him unjustly without blaming them in return; how he did nothing in a hurry; how he refused to listen to calumnies; how exact an examiner of manners and actions he was, not given to reproach people, nor timid, nor suspicious, nor pedantic; with how little he was satisfied in the way of lodging, bed, dress, food, servants; how laborious and patient; how he was able because of his sparing diet to hold out to evening, not even requiring to relieve himself by evacuations except at the usual hour; his firmness and steadiness in friendship; how he tolerated freedom of speech in those who opposed his opinions; the pleasure he had when any man showed him anything better; and how religious he was without superstition. Imitate all this and you may have as good a conscience as he had when your last hour comes.

31.

Return to your sober senses and recall yourself. When you have roused yourself from sleep and perceived that they were only dreams which troubled you, then in your waking hours look at the things about you as you looked at the dreams.

32.

I consist of a little body and a soul. Now to this little body all things are morally indifferent, for it is not able to perceive differences. But to the understanding all things are indifferent, except its own activities; and these are all in its power; of these, however, only its present acts matter; for both the future and the past activities of the mind are for the present indifferent.

33.

Neither the labor of the hand nor of the foot is contrary to nature, so long as the foot does a foot's work and the hand a hand's. Then neither for man as man is labor contrary to nature, so long as he does the things of a man. And if the labor is not contrary to his nature, neither is it an evil to him.

34.

How many pleasures have been enjoyed by robbers, patricides, tyrants!

35.

Do you not see how craftsmen accommodate themselves up to a certain point to those who are novices in their craft, yet hold fast to the principles of their art and refuse to depart from them? Is it not strange that an architect or a physician should have more respect for the principles of his art than man for his own reason, which he shares with the gods?

36.

Asia and Europe are but corners of the universe; all the sea a drop in the universe; Athos a little clod of the universe; the present time a point in eternity. All things are small, changeable, perishable. All things come from that universal ruling power either directly or as indirect consequence. Accordingly the lion's gaping jaws, and all harmful things like thorns or mud, are the outcome of the grand and beautiful. Do not imagine they are different in kind from that which you revere, but form a just opinion of the source of all.

37.

He who has seen the present age has seen all, both all that has taken place from eternity and all that will be through time without end; for all things are of one kind and of one form.

38.

Consider frequently the connection of all things in the universe and their relation to one another. For things are somehow implicated with one another, and all in a way friendly to one another; for one thing follows in order after another, and this is by virtue of their active movement and mutual agreement and the unity of their substance.

39.

Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and to the men among whom you have your portion; love them, and do it truly, sincerely.

40.

Every instrument, tool, vessel that does what it is made for is good, though he who made it is not there. But when things are formed by nature, there is within them and abides in them the power which made them; wherefore the more should you reverence this power, and think that, if you live and act according to its will, everything in you is in accord with intelligence. Thus also in the universe the things which belong to it are in accord with intelligence.

41.

If of the things not within your power you suppose some to be good for you and others evil, it must be that, when one of the bad things befalls you or the loss of one of the good things, you still blame the gods, and hate men too, whoever are the cause of the misfortune or the loss, or are suspected of being probably the cause; and we do much injustice, because we do not regard these things as indifferent. But if we think that only the things which are in our power are good or bad, we have no reason either for finding fault with God or taking a hostile attitude to man.

42.

We are all working together to one end, some with knowledge and design, others without knowing what they do; like men asleep, of whom Heraclitus I think it is says that they too are laborers and co-operators in what goes on in the universe. But men co-operate after different fashions; even those who find fault with what happens are co-operating abundantly; for the universe has need even of such men as these. It remains for you to understand among what kind of workmen you station yourself; for he who rules all things will certainly make a right use of you, and receive you among some group of co-operators and those whose labors conduce to the one end. But do not play such a part as the mean and ridiculous verse in the play, which Chrysippus speaks of.

43.

Does the sun attempt to do the work of the rain, or Aesculapius the work of Ceres? And how is it with the stars, are they not different and yet they work together to the same end?

44.

If the gods have decreed about me and about the things which must happen to me, they have decreed well, for it is absurd to imagine a deity without forethought; and as for doing me harm, why should they desire that? What advantage would result from it to them or to the whole, which is the special object of their providence? But if they have issued no decree about me individually, they have certainly ordained things for the whole at least, and the things which happen by way of result in the general arrangement I ought to accept with pleasure and be content with them. But if the gods decide nothing-which is wicked to believe-let us neither sacrifice nor pray nor swear by them nor do anything else we did when we believed the gods were present and lived with us. If then the gods have no care of the things which concern us, I can take care of myself, and I can inquire into what is useful; and to every man that is useful which is in harmony with his constitution and nature. My nature is rational and social; and my city and country, so far as I am Antoninus, is Rome, and so far as I am a man, is the world. Whatever then is of use to these societies is of use to me.

45.

Whatever happens to the individual is for the interest of the universal; this should be sufficient. But further, you will observe this general truth, that whatever is profitable to any man is profitable also to other men. Take the word profitable here in the common sense as applying to things of the middle sort (neither good nor bad).

46.

Even as it happens to you in the theater and such places that the continual sight of the same things or the monotony makes the show wearisome, so it is all through life; for everything above and below is the same and comes from the same. How long then to the end?

47.

Think continually that all kinds of men of all kinds of professions and of all nations are dead, and let your thoughts come down even to Philistion and Phoebus and Origanion. Now turn your thoughts to other generations. We too must remove to that place where so many great orators, so many noble philosophers, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Socrates, so many heroes of former days, and so many generals after them, and tyrants, have gone; and in their train, Eudoxus, Hipparchus, Archimedes, and other men of keen natural talents, great minds, great lovers of labor, versatile, confident, mockers, even of the perishable and ephemeral life of man, such as Menippus and others like him. Consider of all these that they have long been dust. What harm is this to them, or what to those whose names are quite unknown? Only one thing here is worth much, to pass your life in truth and justice, and show benevolence even to liars and unjust men.

48.

When you wish to enjoy yourself, think of the virtues of those who live with you; the activity, for instance, of one, the modesty of another, the liberality of a third, and some other good quality of a fourth. For nothing is so cheering as examples of the virtues exhibited in the characters of those who live with us, when they appear in all possible abundance. Wherefore we must keep them before us.

49.

Are you rebellious because you weigh so many pounds less than three hundred? Be not rebellious then that you must live only so many years and not more; for as you are satisfied with the amount of substance which has been assigned you, so be content with the time.

50.

Let us try to persuade men to behave reasonably. But for yourself, act even against their will, when the law of justice directs you that way. If, however, anyone forcibly obstructs you, resign yourself to contentment and tranquillity; at the same time, make use of his obstruction to exercise some other virtue. Remember that you made your attempt conditionally, that you did not expect to do the impossible. What then did you expect? To make the attempt as you have done. And you have attained your object, even if the things which you were striving to reach are not accomplished.

51.

The lover of fame relies on other men's activities for his own good; the lover of pleasure on his sensations; but the man of understanding knows that his own acts are his good.

52.

It is in our power to refrain from any opinion about things and not to be disturbed in our souls; for things in themselves have no natural power to force our judgments.

53.

Accustom yourself to listen carefully to another man's words, and as much as possible be in the speaker's mind.

54.

That which is not good for the swarm, is not good for the single bee.

55.

If the sailors abused the helmsman or the sick the doctor, would they listen to anybody else and how then could the helmsman ensure the safety of those in the ship or the doctor the health of his patients?

56.

How many of the people who came into the world with me are already gone out of it!

57.

Honey tastes bitter to the jaundiced and water is horrible to a person with rabies; and a ball is a fine thing to little children. Why then am I angry with anyone? Do you think that a false opinion has less power than bile in the jaundiced or poison in one who is bitten by a mad dog?

58.

No man can hinder you from living according to the reason of your own nature; nothing will happen to you contrary to the reason of universal nature.

59.

What kind of people are those whom men strive to please, and for what objects, and by what kind of acts? How soon will time cover all things, and how many has it covered already!

VII

What is evil? It is something you have often seen. And whatever happens, keep this in mind, that it is something you have seen again and again. Everywhere up and down you will find the same things with which histories are filled, in the olden times, in medieval times, and today, repeating themselves in our cities and homes. There is nothing new; all things are familiar and quickly over.

How can our opinions cool down unless the impressions on which they rest are obliterated? But it is in your power continuously to fan your thoughts into a flame. I can have the opinion about anything which I ought to have. If I can, why then am I disturbed? The things which lie outside my mind need have no relation at all to my mind. Be sure of this and you stand erect. It is in your power to restore yourself to life. Look at things again as you once looked at them, for this will bring you new life.

A piece of pageantry, a stage play, flocking sheep and herding cows, exercise with spears, bones cast to puppies, crusts tossed into fishponds, the laboring of ants over their burdens, the running about of frightened little mice, puppets dancing on strings-all are the same. Your duty in the midst of such things is to show good humor and not a proud air; and to understand that a man is worth just as much as the things about which he busies himself.

In conversation you should attend to what is being said, and in action you should observe what is happening. In the first, you should see immediately the end intended, and in the second, watch carefully for the meaning.

Is my understanding sufficient for this work or not? If sufficient, I use it for the work as an instrument given me by universal nature. If it is not sufficient, then either I retire from the work and give place to one who can do it better, unless there is some reason why I ought not to do so; or else I do it as well as I can, allying myself with a man who with the aid of my intelligence can do what is wanted, and what is useful for the general good. For whatsoever I can do either alone or with another ought to be directed only toward that which is useful and advantageous to society.

How many who were once celebrated by fame have now been lost in oblivion, and how many who once celebrated the fame of others have long been dead!

Be not ashamed to take help; your business is to do your duty as a soldier does in an assault on a town. Suppose you are lame and cannot mount the battlements alone: with the help of another you can reach them.

Let not the future disturb you. You will face it with the same reason which you now use for present things.

All parts of the universe are interwoven with one another, and the bond is sacred. Nothing is unconnected with some other thing. For all things have been co-ordinated and combined to form the same universe. There is one universe made up of everything, and one God who pervades everything, and one substance, one law, one common reason in all intelligent animals, and one truth; perchance indeed there is one perfection for all beings of the same stock, who participate in the same reason.

10.

Everything material soon disappears into the sum of being; and every form is soon taken back into the universal reason; and the memory of everything is soon overwhelmed in time.

11.

To a rational being the act that is according to nature is according to reason.

12.

Stand erect, or be helped to stand erect (III, 5).

13.

As it is with members of unified bodies, so it is with rational beings that exist separate, but are designed for co-operation. You will realize this more if you say often to yourself: "I am a member of a system of rational beings." But if you say only you are a part, you do not yet love mankind from your heart; doing good does not yet delight you for its own sake; you still do it merely as an act of politeness, not yet as doing good to yourself.

14.

Let accidents happen as they will on the parts that feel the injury. And parts that have felt may complain, if they choose. But I, unless I think that the accident is an evil, am not injured. And it is in my power not to think so.

15.

Whatever anyone else does or says, my duty is to be good; just as gold, or an emerald, or purple always says:

"Whatever anyone else does or says, I must be an emerald and keep my color."

16.

The ruling mind does not disturb itself; I mean, does not frighten itself or cause itself pain. If anyone else can frighten or pain it, let him do so. The mind itself of its own judgment will not turn to such ways. Let the body take care, if it can, that it suffers nothing, but let it speak, if it suffers. But the soul, the seat of fear and pain, has full power to form an opinion about these things and need suffer nothing, unless at times it deviates into such an opinion. The mind in itself wants nothing, unless it creates a want for itself; therefore it is both free from perturbation and unimpeded, if it does not perturb and impede itself.

17.

Happiness is a good divinity, or a good thing. What then are you doing here, O imagination? Go away, I intreat you by the gods, as you did come, for I want you not. But you are come as you have been used to do. I am not angry with you; only go away.

18.

Is anyone afraid of change? Why, what can be done without change? What is more pleasing or more suitable to universal nature? Can you take a bath unless the wood undergoes a change? Can you be nourished, unless your food undergoes a change? Can anything else useful be accomplished without change? Do you not then see that for yourself also change is the same, and equally necessary for the universal nature?

19.

Through the universal substance as through a furious torrent all bodies are carried, while by their nature united with and co-operating with the whole, as the parts of your body do with one another. How many a Chrysippus, how many a Socrates, how many an Epictetus has time already swallowed up? Apply this same thought to every man and thing (V, 23; VI, 15).

20.

One thing only troubles me, that I may do something which the nature of man forbids, or in the way it forbids, or at a forbidden time.

21.

Soon you will have forgotten all things; and soon all things will have forgotten you.

22.

It is peculiar to man to love even those who do him wrong. This happens, if when they do wrong you remember they are kinsmen, and wrong you through ignorance and unintentionally, and soon both of you will die; above all, that the wrongdoer has done you no harm, for he has not made your mind worse than it was before.

23.

The universal nature out of the universal substance, as if it were wax, now molds a horse; when it has broken this up, it uses the material for a tree, then for a man, then for something else; and each of these things lasts for a very short time. But it is no hardship for the vessel to be broken up, as there was none for it to be fastened together (VIII, 50).

24.

A scowling look is quite unnatural. When one often assumes it, the result is that all one's comeliness fades and at last is so completely extinguished that it cannot again be lighted up at all. Look to conclude from this that scowls are contrary to reason. For if all knowledge of doing wrong is lost, what reason is there for living any longer?

25.

Nature, that governs the whole, will soon change all things which you see, and out of their substance will make other things, and again other things from the substance of them, in order that the world may be ever new (XII, 23).

26.

When a man has done you any wrong, immediately consider with what notions of good and evil he acted in doing wrong. When you have seen this, you will pity him and will neither wonder nor be angry. For either you think the same thing to be good that he does or something of the same kind; it is your duty then to pardon him; but if you do not hold the same notions of good or evil, you will more readily be charitable to him who is in error.

27.

Think less of what you have not than of what you have; of the things you have select the best; then reflect how eagerly you would have labored for them, if you had them not. At the same time, however, take care you do not through being so pleased with them accustom yourself to so overvalue them as to be distressed if ever you should lose them.

28.

Retire into yourself. The nature of the rational principle that rules us is to be content with itself when it does what is just, and so secures tranquillity.

29.

Subdue the imagination. Check the drives of impulse. Confine your care to the present. Understand well what happens to you and to others. Divide and distribute every object between its causal and its material elements. Think of your last hour. Let the harm done by another man stay where the harm was done (VIII, 29).

30.

Pay attention to what is being said. Let your understanding keep pace with what is being done and the causes of it (VII, 4).

31.

Adorn yourself with simplicity and modesty and with indifference towards the things which are neither good nor bad. Love mankind. Follow God. The poet says that law rules all. It is enough to remember that law rules all.

32.

As for death, whether it is a dispersion, or a dissolution into atoms, or annihilation, it is either extinction or change.

33.

As for pain, a pain that is intolerable carries us off; but that which lasts a long time is bearable; the mind maintains its own tranquillity by retiring into itself and the ruling faculty is not injured. As for the parts which are hurt by the pain, let them, if they can, give their opinion of it.

34.

As for fame, look at the minds of those who seek fame, observe what they are, and what kind of things they avoid, and what kind of things they pursue. And consider that as one heap of sand piled on another hides the sand of the first, so in life an earlier exploit is soon covered by those which come after.

35.

A saying of Plato:

" 'A man with a lofty mind, who takes a view of all time and all substance, can he, do you suppose, regard human life as anything great?' 'Not possibly.' 'Such a man will think, too, that death is no evil.' 'Certainly not.' "

36.

From Antisthenes: "It is a royal thing to do good and to be abused."

37.

"To have a countenance obedient, regulated and composed as the mind commands, and a mind not regulated and composed by itself is a base thing."

38.

It is not right to vex ourselves at things,
For they care nought about us.

39.

To the immortal gods and us give joy.

40.

Life must be reaped like the ripe ears of corn:
One man is born; another dies.

41.

If gods care not for me and for my children,
There is a reason for it.

42.

For the good is with me, and the just.

43.

"No joining with others in their wailing, no violent emotion."

44.

From Plato:

"But I would make this man a sufficient answer, which is this: 'You are wrong if you think a man who is good for anything at all should count over the hazards of life or death, and should not rather look to this only in all he does, whether what he is doing is just or unjust, and the work of a good or a bad man.'"

45.

"For this, men of Athens, is the truth; wherever a man has taken his stand, thinking it the best place for him, or has been stationed by his commander, there in my opinion he ought to stay and abide the hazard, reckoning nothing, either death or anything else, worse than the baseness of deserting his post."

46.

"But my good friend, consider whether nobility and goodness are not something different from saving and being saved; for we must not allow that they consist of living such or such a time. at least for one who is really a man; nor should he be fond of life, but entrusting it to God, believing what the women say, that no man can escape his destiny; and he should next inquire how best he may live the time he has to live."

47.

Follow the courses of the stars, as if you were going along with them; and consider constantly the changes of the elements into one another; for such thoughts purge away the filth of this earthly life.

48.

This is a fine saying of Plato: That he who discourses of men should look at earthly things as if he viewed them from some higher place; should look at them in their assemblies, armies, labors on the soil, their marriages, treaties, births and deaths, the noise of the courts of justice, the desert places, the various nations of barbarians, the feasts, lamentations, markets, the mixture of all things and orderly combination of contraries.

49.

Consider the past; the great shifts in political supremacy. You may foresee also the things which will be. For they will certainly keep the same form; they cannot possibly deviate from the order in which they take place now. Accordingly, to have contemplated human life for forty years is the same as to have contemplated it for ten thousand years. For what more will you see?

50.

What has grown from the earth goes back to the earth,
But what has sprung from heavenly seed,
Back to the heavenly realms returns.

This means either a dissolution of intertwining atoms, or a similar dispersion of unfeeling elements.

51.

With food and drinks and cunning magic arts
Turning the channel's course to 'scape from death.
The breeze which heaven has sent
We must endure, and toil without complaining.

52.

Another may be more expert in thwarting his opponent; but he is not more social, nor more modest, nor better disciplined to meet all that happens, nor more considerate to the faults of his neighbors.

53.

Where every act must be performed in accord with the reason which is common to gods and men, we have nothing to fear; when we can profit by activity which is successful and in harmony with our nature, we need suspect no harm.

54.

Everywhere and at all times it is in your power to accept reverently your present condition, to behave justly to those about you, and to exert your skill to control your thoughts, that nothing shall steal into them without being well examined.

55.

Look not around to discover other men's motives, but look straight to what nature leads you, both universal nature, through the things that befall you, and your own nature, through the acts you are compelled to do. Every being must do what its constitution requires, and all other things have been constituted to serve rational beings, just as among irrational things the inferior exists for the sake of the superior, and things with reason exist for the sake of one another. The primary principle then in man's constitution is the social. The second is not to yield to the temptations of the body; for it is the peculiar mark of the rational and intelligent agent to set its own bounds and never to be overpowered by the activity either of the senses or the appetites, for both are animal. But the intelligent agent claims superiority and does not permit itself to be overpowered by the others. With good reason, for it is formed by nature to make use of all the rest. The third mark of a rational constitution is freedom from error and deception. Let your mind hold fast to these things and go straight on, and it has what is its own.

56.

Consider yourself to be dead, and to have completed your life up to the present time; then live out according to nature the remainder which is allowed you.

57.

Love only that which happens to you and is woven with the thread of your destiny. For what is more suited to your needs?

58.

Whatever happens, keep before your eyes those who have borne the same things, how they were vexed and grieved and full of complaining. And now where are they? Nowhere. Then why do you choose to act in the same way? Why do you not leave these agitations, which are foreign to your nature, to those who cause them or are moved by them? Why are you not wholly intent on making the right use of your misfortunes? For if you will use them well, they will be a material for you to work on. Only attend to yourself, and resolve to be a good man in every act, remembering that that on which the act is based is in itself indifferent.

59.

Dig within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if you will ever dig.

60.

The body ought to be controlled and to avoid contortion in motion or attitude. For what the mind shows in the face by maintaining the expression of intelligence and propriety, that ought to be required in the whole body also. But all these things should be observed without affectation.

61.

Life is more like wrestling than dancing, in that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets, however unexpected.

62.

Always be sure whose approbation it is you wish to secure, and what ruling principles they have. Then you will neither blame those who offend involuntarily, nor will you want their approbation, if you look to the sources of their opinions and appetites.

63.

No soul, says the philosopher, voluntarily deprives itself of truth, or of justice, temperance, benevolence, or of any other good thing. It is most necessary to bear this constantly in mind, for thus you will be more gentle towards all.

64.

In every pain remind yourself that there is no dishonor in it, nor does it impair your governing intelligence; it does not damage it either in its rational or social aspects. Indeed in the case of most pains let this remark of Epicurus aid you, that pain is neither intolerable nor everlasting, if you bear in mind that it has its limits, and if you add nothing to it in imagination; and remember this too, that we do not perceive that many things which are disagreeable to us are the same as pain, such as excessive drowsiness, and being feverish, and having no appetite. When you are discontented about any of these things, say to yourself that you are yielding to pain.

65.

Take care not to feel toward the inhuman, as human beings too often feel toward each other.

66.

How do we know that Telauges was not superior in character to Socrates? For it is not enough that Socrates died a more noble death, and disputed more skillfully with the sophists, and spent the night in the cold with more endurance, and that when he was bid to arrest Leon of Salamis, he considered it more noble to refuse, and that he walked in a swaggering way in the streets-though as to this one fact, one doubts if it was true. But we ought to inquire what kind of a soul it was that Socrates possessed, and if he was able to be content with being just towards men and reverent towards the gods, neither idly vexed on account of men's villainy, nor yet making himself a slave to any man's ignorance, nor receiving as strange anything that fell to his share, nor enduring it as intolerable, nor allowing his understanding to be affected by the ills of the miserable flesh.

67.

Nature has so mingled the intelligence with the composition of the body, as to have allowed you the power of self-determination and of bringing under subjection all that is your own. It is very possible to be godlike and to be recognized as such by no one. Always bear this in mind; and also that very little indeed is necessary for a happy life. And because you have despaired of becoming a dialectician and skilled in the knowledge of nature, do not for this reason renounce the hope of being both free and modest and social and obedient to God.

68.

It is in your power to live free from all compulsion and in the greatest tranquillity of mind, even if all the world cry out against you as much as they choose, and even if wild beasts tear you limb from limb. For what hinders the mind, in the midst of all this, from being tranquil and truly judging all surrounding things, and readily using the material presented to it, so that the judgment may say to the thing which falls under its observation: This you are in reality, though in the opinion of men you may appear to be of a different kind; and use may say to opportunity: You are the thing I was seeking; for whatever presents itself is material for virtue, both rational and political, and in a word, for the exercise of art, which belongs to man or God. Everything which happens has a relationship either to God or man, and is neither new nor difficult to handle, but familiar and fit matter to work on.

69.

The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor hypocritical.

70.

The immortal gods are not vexed because they must tolerate men as they are and so many of them bad; still they take care of them in all ways. But you, who are destined to end so soon, are you weary of enduring the bad, and this too when you are one of them?

71.

It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own wickedness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men's wickedness, which is impossible.

72.

Whatever the rational and social faculty finds to be neither reasonable nor social, it correctly judges to be inferior to itself.

73.

When you have done a good act and another has received it, why do you still want something more, as fools do, either to have the credit for a good act or the recompense?

74.

No one tires of receiving what is useful. But it is useful to act according to nature. Do not then tire of receiving what is useful by doing what is useful to others.

75.

The nature of the All moved to make a world of order. Either everything that takes place follows by way of consequence or the movements are governed by no rational principle. If you remember this, it will make you more tranquil in many things (IX, 21; VI, 44).

VIII

This may help to keep you from vainglory: that you cannot claim to have lived the whole of your life, or even from your youth upward, as a philosopher; but both to others and to yourself it is plain that you are far from philosophy. You have fallen into confusion then, so that it is no longer easy for you to get the reputation of a philosopher. If then you have truly seen what the facts are, never mind what others think of you, and be content to live the rest of your life as nature wills. Observe then what it wills, and let nothing else distract you; for you have experienced many wanderings without having found happiness anywhere. Where is happiness then? In doing what man's nature requires. How then shall a man do this? By having principles from which come his affections and his acts. What principles? Those which relate to good and bad: the belief that there is nothing good for man which does not make him just, temperate, manly, free; and that there is nothing bad which does not produce opposite results.

Of every action ask yourself, "What does this mean to me? Shall I repent it?" A little time and I am dead, and all is gone. What more do I seek, if what I am now doing is the work of an intelligent and social being, and one who is under the same law with God?

Alexander and Caesar and Pompey, what are they in comparison with Diogenes and Heraclitus and Socrates? For the latter were acquainted with things, and their causes, and their matter, and the ruling principles of these men were the same; but as to the former, how much foresight did they have, and to how many things were they slaves?

Remember that men will go on doing the same things even if you should burst in protest.

This is the chief thing: Do not be perturbed, for all things are according to the law of nature; and in a little time you will be nobody and nowhere, like Hadrian and Augustus. In the next place, keep your eyes fixed steadily on your business, remembering it is your duty to be a good man, and do what a man's nature demands without turning aside; and speak as it seems to you most just, only let it be with a good temper and with modesty and without hypocrisy.

Nature has this work to do: to shift and to change, to remove from here and to carry there. All things are change, yet we need not fear anything new. All things are familiar and even the distribution of them also remains the same.

Every nature is contented with itself when it goes on its way well; and a rational nature goes on its way well when in its thoughts it assents to nothing false or uncertain; when it directs its movements to social acts only; when it confines its desires and aversions to the things which are in its power; and when it is satisfied with everything that is assigned to it by the common nature. For of this common nature every particular nature is a part, as the nature of the leaf is a part of the nature of the plant; except that in the plant the nature of the leaf is part of a nature which has not perception or reason, and is subject to impediments; but the nature of man is part of a nature which is not subject to impediment, and is intelligent and just, since it gives to everything in equal portions and according to its worth, times, substance, cause, activity, and incident. Only do not look for exact equality between individual and individual; but take all the parts of one thing together and compare them with all parts taken together of another.

You have no time or opportunity to read and to know everything; but you do have time and opportunity to check arrogance, to be superior to pleasure and pain and love of fame, and not to be vexed at stupid and ungrateful people, and even to care for them.

Let no man hear you finding fault with court life or with your own (V, 16).

10.

Repentance is a kind of self-reproof for having neglected something useful; for that which is good must be something useful, and the good man's object in life. But no good man would ever repent of having refused any sensual pleasure. Pleasure therefore is neither good nor useful.

11.

Of each particular thing, ask: "What is it in itself, in its own constitution? What is its substance and material? And what is its causal nature? And what is it doing in the world? And how long will it abide? "

12.

When you rise from sleep with reluctance, remember that it is in accord with your constitution and with human nature to perform social acts, but sleeping is common also to irrational animals. And that which belongs to the individual nature is more proper and pleasing to it; (V, 1)

13.

Constantly, if possible, as every impression presents itself, consider its real nature and proper qualities, and reason with yourself about it.

14.

Whatever man you meet with, immediately say to yourself, "What are his principles of good and bad?" For if with respect to pleasure and pain and the causes of each, and with respect to fame and dishonor, death and life, he has such and such opinions, it will seem nothing wonderful or strange to me, if he does such and such things; and I shall bear in mind that he is compelled to do so.

15.

Imagine being surprised that a fig tree produces figs, or if the world produces such and such things; and shame to the physician who is surprised that a man has a fever and to the helmsman if the wind is unfavorable.

16.

Remember that to change your opinion and to follow him who corrects your error is not a surrender of freedom. Your action follows your own judgment and understanding and keeps the course your mind has set.

17.

If a fault is in your own power to correct, why do you persist in it? But if in the power of another, whom do you blame-the atoms or the gods? Both are foolish. You must blame nobody. For if you can, correct the cause; but if you cannot do this, correct at least the thing itself; if you cannot even do this, what purpose is served by finding fault? For nothing should be done without a purpose.

18.

That which has died does not drop out of the universe. If it stays here, it also changes here, and is dissolved into its proper parts, which are elements of the universe and of yourself. And these too change, and murmur not.

19.

Everything exists for some end, a horse, a vine. Why do you wonder? Even the sun will say, I am for some purpose, and the rest of the gods will say the same. For what purpose then are you? To enjoy pleasure? Does reason allow this?

20.

Nature has regard in everything no less to the end than to the beginning and the continuance, just like the man who throws up a ball. What good is it then for the ball to be thrown up, or harm for it to come down, or even to lie fallen? And what good is it to the bubble while it holds together, or what harm when it is burst? The same may be said of a candle also.

21.

Turn a thing inside out, and see what it is; and what kind of a thing it becomes when it has grown old, or is diseased, or in decay. Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, the rememberer and the remembered; and this is but a corner of this part of the world; and not even here do all agree, no, not anyone with himself; and the whole world, too, is a point in the universe.

22.

Attend to the matter which is before you, whether it is an opinion or an act or a word. You get what you deserve: for you choose rather to become good tomorrow than to be good today.

23.

Am I doing anything? I do it with reference to the good of mankind. Does anything happen to me? I take what comes, referring all to the gods, and the source of all things, from which all that happens is derived.

24.

As bathing appears to you to be-oil, sweat, dirt, filthy water, all things disgusting-so is every part of life and every material thing.

25.

Lucilla saw Verus die, and then Lucilla died. Secunda saw Maximus die, and then Secunda died. Epitynchanus saw Diotimus die, and then Epitynchanus died. Antoninus saw Faustina die, and then Antoninus died. And so on; first Hadrian, then Celer. And those sharp-witted men, either seers or men inflated with pride, where are they? For instance, Charax, Demetrius the Platonist, and Eudaemon, and anyone else like them. All ephemeral, dead long ago. Some indeed have not been remembered even for a short time, and others have become the heroes of fables, and still others have disappeared even from fables. Remember this then, that this little compound, yourself, must either be dissolved, or your poor breath must be extinguished, or be removed and placed elsewhere.

26.

It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper work of a man. Now it is a proper work of a man to be benevolent to his own kind, to despise the movements of the senses, to form a just judgment of plausible appearances, and to survey the nature of the universe and of the things which happen in it.

27.

Man has three relations: the one to the body which surrounds him; the second to the divine cause from which all things come to all; and the third to those who live with him.

28.

Pain is either an evil to the body-and in that case, let the body say what it thinks of it-or to the soul; but it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquillity, and refuse to view it as an evil. For every judgment and movement and desire and aversion is within, and no evil can penetrate there.

29.

Wipe out fancies by often saying to yourself: "Now it is in my power to allow no evil in my soul, nor desire, nor perturbation; but looking at all things, I see what is their proper nature, and I use each according to its value." Remember this power which you have from nature.

30.

Speak both in the Senate and to every man, whoever he may be, appropriately, not with any affectation; use plain language.

31.

Augustus' court, wife, daughter, descendants, ancestors, sister, Agrippa, kinsmen, intimates, friends, Areius, Maecenas, physicians and sacrificing priests-the whole court is dead. Then turn to the rest, not considering the death of a single man, but of a whole race, like the Pompeians; and the words which are engraved upon tombs: The Last of his Race. Then consider what trouble those before them have had that they might leave a successor; and that of necessity someone must be the last, and then finally the death of a whole race.

32.

It is your duty to order your life well in every single act; and if every act does its duty, as far as possible, be content; and no one can prevent that. "But some external obstacle might stand in the way," you say. Nothing will stand in the way of your acting justly, soberly, and considerately. "But may not some form of action. be prevented? " Possibly, but by acquiescing in the hindrance and by being content to adopt that alternative, another opportunity of action is immediately put before you in place of that which was prevented, and one which will fit in to the whole of which we are speaking.

33.

Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance; and be ready to let it go cheerfully.

34.

If you ever saw a hand cut off, or a foot, or a head lying anywhere apart from the rest of the body-this is what a man does with himself who is not content with what happens, and separates himself from others, or does anything unsocial. Suppose that you have detached yourself from the natural unity for you were made by nature a part, but now you have cut yourself off-yet here there is this beautiful provision, that it is in your power again to reunite with it. God has allowed this to no other part, after it has been separated and cut asunder, to come together again. But consider the benevolence by which he has distinguished man, for he has put it in his power not to be separated at all from the universal; and when he has been separated, he has allowed him to return and to be united and to resume his place as a part.

35.

As the nature of the universal has given to every rational being all the other powers that it has, so we have received from it this power also. For as the universal nature converts and fixes in its predestined place everything which stands in the way and opposes it, and makes such things a part of itself, so also the rational animal is able to make every hindrance into his own instrument and to use it to further his endeavor.

36.

Do not disturb yourself by thinking of the whole of your life. Let not your thoughts at once embrace all the various troubles which you may expect to befall you. But on every occasion ask yourself, "What is there in this which is intolerable and past bearing?" For you will be ashamed to confess. In the next place, remember that neither the future nor the past pains you, but only the present. But this is reduced to a very little, if you only circumscribe it, and scold yourself if you are unable to bear even this.

37.

Does Panthea or Pergamus now sit by the tomb of Verus? Does Chaurias or Diotimus sit by the tomb of Hadrian? That would be ridiculous. Well, suppose they did sit there, would the dead be conscious of it? And if conscious, would they be pleased? And if pleased, would that make them immortal? Was it not in the order of destiny that these persons too should become old women and old men and then die? And when they died what would their lovers do? All comes to foul smell and corruption in the end.

38.

If you are sharp-sighted, see and judge wisely, says the philosopher.

39.

In the constitution of the rational animal I see no virtue which is opposed to justice; but I see a virtue which is opposed to love of pleasure, and that is temperance.

40.

If you take away your opinion about what seems to give you pain, you yourself stand in perfect security. You ask, "Who is this self?" The reason. "But I am not reason." Be it so. Then let reason not trouble itself. But if any other part of you suffers, let it keep its suffering to itself ( VII, 16).

41.

Hindrance to the perceptions of sense is an evil to the animal nature. Hindrance to the impulses is equally an evil to the animal nature. And something else also is equally an impediment and an evil to the constitution of plants. So that which is a hindrance to the intelligence is an evil to the intelligent nature. Apply all these things then to yourself. Does pain or sensuous pleasure affect you? The senses will look to that. Has any obstacle opposed you in your efforts towards an object? If indeed you were making this effort without any reservation, certainly this obstacle is an evil to you as a rational animal. But if you accept the usual course of things, you have not yet been injured or even impeded. The things, however, which are proper to the understanding, no one may impede, for neither fire, nor iron, nor tyrant, nor abuse, touches it in any way. When it has been made a sphere, it continues a sphere (XI, 12).

42.

It is not fitting that I should give myself pain, for I have never intentionally given pain even to another.

43.

Different things delight different people; it is my delight to keep the ruling faculty sound without turning away either from any man or from any of the things which happen to men, but looking at and receiving all with welcome eyes and using everything according to its value.

44.

Lay hold securely upon this present time; for those who prefer to pursue posthumous fame do not consider that the men of after time will be exactly like those they cannot bear now; and both are mortal. And what does it matter to you what these men say or what opinion they hold about you?

45.

Take me and cast me where you will; for there I shall keep my divine part tranquil, that is, content, if it can feel and act in harmony with its proper constitution. Is this change of place sufficient reason why my soul should be unhappy and worse than it was, by cringing or craving, cowering or flinching? What indeed is worth that?

46.

Nothing can happen to any man which is not a human accident; nor to an ox which is not according to the nature of an ox; nor to a vine, nor to a stone, that is not according to the nature of each. Why should you complain, if what is usual and natural happens to each thing? Nature brings nothing that you cannot bear.

47.

If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing which disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now. But if anything in your own disposition gives you pain, who hinders you from correcting the principle at fault? And even if you are pained because you are not doing some particular thing which seems to you to be right, why do you not rather act than complain? "Some insuperable obstacle is in the way." Do not be grieved then, for the cause of its not being done depends not on you. "But it is not worth while to live if this cannot be done." Take your departure from life contentedly then, dying just as he dies who is in full activity and well pleased with the things which are obstacles.

48.

Remember that the ruling faculty is invincible, when once it rallies, if it does nothing which it does not choose to do, even if it resist from mere obstinacy. How much more then when its judgment is rational and made with deliberation! 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 be impregnable. 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.

Do not draw inferences in excess of what first appearances report. Suppose it has been reported to you that a certain person speaks ill of you. This has been reported; but that you have been injured, that has not been reported. I see that my child is sick; that I see, but that he is in danger I do not see. Thus always abide by the first appearances and add nothing to them from within, and then you are unaffected. Or rather add this, the recognition that everything which happens is a part of the world order.

50.

A cucumber is bitter-throw it away. There are briars in the path-turn aside from them. This is enough. Do not add, "And why were such things put into the world? " For you will be ridiculed by a man who is acquainted with nature, as you would be ridiculed by a carpenter and a shoemaker if you found fault because you found shavings and cuttings in their workshop from the things which they make. And yet they have places where they can throw these shavings and cuttings, but nature has no external space; now the wondrous part of her art is that though she has circumscribed herself, everything within her which appears to decay and grow old and be useless she changes into herself, and again makes 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 your actions be sluggish nor in your conversation without method, nor wandering in thought, nor let there be in your soul either inward contention or external effusion; nor in life be so busy as to have no leisure. Suppose men kill you, cut you in pieces, curse you. What then can these things do to prevent your mind from remaining pure, wise, sober, just? For instance, if a man should stand by a limpid pure spring, and curse it, the spring does not stop sending up pure water; and if he should cast dirt and filth into it, it will speedily disperse them and wash them out, and will not be at all polluted. How then shall you possess a perpetual fountain? By imbuing yourself hourly with freedom, benevolence, 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 or 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 do you think of him who seeks the praise of those who applaud, of men who know not where they are or who they are?

53.

Do you wish to be praised by a man who curses himself thrice every hour? Would you wish to please a man who does not please himself? Does a man please himself who repents of nearly everything that he does?

54.

Do not let your breathing only act in concert with the air which surrounds you, but let your intelligence also now be in harmony with the intelligence which embraces all things. For the mind power is diffused in all parts and pervades all things for him who is willing to draw it to him, just as the atmosphere is for him who is able to breathe 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 wills.

56.

To my own free will, the free will of my neighbor is just as indifferent as his breath and his 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 happiness may not depend on another.

57.

The sun appears to be poured down and diffused in all directions, and yet it is not exhausted. For this diffusion is extension. Accordingly its rays are called "extensions" because they are extended. But one may judge what kind of a thing a ray is, if he looks at the sun's light through a narrow opening in a darkened room, for it is extended in a straight line, and as it were divided when it meets with a 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 make no violent or impetuous collision with the obstacles in its way; nor yet fall down, but 'be fixed and enlighten that which receives it. For a body will deprive itself of light if it does not admit it.

58.

He who fears death either fears the loss of sensation or different kind of sensation. But if you have no sensation, neither will you feel any harm; and yet if you acquire another kind of sensation, you will be a different kind of being and you will not cease to live.

59.

Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them.

60.

An arrow moves in one way, the mind in another. The mind indeed, even when it moves cautiously and plays inquiringly around a subject, is nevertheless moving straight on toward its goal.

61.

Enter into every man's ruling faculty; and also let every man enter into yours.

IX

He who acts unjustly acts irreverently. For since the universal nature has made rational animals for the sake of one another, to help one another according to their worth, but in no way to injure one another, he who transgresses her will is clearly guilty of impiety toward the highest divinity. And he too who lies is guilty of impiety to the same divinity; for the universal nature is the nature of all things that are; and all things that are have a relation to all things that come into existence. 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 through neglect of the powers received from nature he can no longer 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 a sinful act. Now with respect to the things toward 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, and equally affected. With respect to pain, then, and pleasure, or death and life, honor or dishonor, which the universal nature employs equally, whoever is not equally affected is manifestly guilty of sin. And I say that the universal nature employs them equally instead of saying that they happen alike to those who are produced in continuous series and to those who come after them by virtue of a certain original movement of Providence, according to which it moved from a certain beginning to this ordering of things, having conceived certain reasons of the things which were to be, and having determined the generative power of substances and changes and such like successions (VII, 75).

It would be a man's happiest lot to depart from mankind without having had any taste of lying and hypocrisy and luxury and pride. However, to breathe one's last when one has had enough of these is the next best thing. Have you determined to stick to vice, and has not experience yet induced you to flee this pestilence? For the destruction of the understanding is a pestilence, much more indeed than any such corruption in the air about us. For this corruption is a pestilence of animals, in so far as they are animals, but the other is a pestilence of men in so far as they are men.

Do not despise death, but be well content with it, since this too is one of those things which nature wills. For such as it is to be young and to grow old, and to increase and to reach maturity, and to have teeth and beard and gray hairs, and to beget, and to be pregnant and to bring forth, such also is dissolution. This then is consistent with the character of a reflecting man, to be neither careless nor impatient nor contemptuous with respect to death, but to wait for it as one of the operations of nature. As you now wait for the time when the child shall come out of your wife's womb, so be ready for the time when your soul shall fall out of this envelope. But if you require also a vulgar kind of comfort which shall reach your heart, you will be best reconciled to death by observing the objects from which you are going to be removed, and the morals of those with whom your soul will no longer be mingled. For it is not your right to be offended with men, but it is your duty to care for them and to bear with them gently; and yet to remember that your departure will be not from men who have the same principles as yourself. For this is the only thing, if there be any, which could draw us the contrary way and attach us to life, to be permitted to live with those who have the same principles as ourselves. But now you see how great is the trouble arising from the discordance of those who live together, so that you may say, "Come quick, O death, lest perchance I, too, should forget myself."

He who does wrong does wrong against himself. He who acts unjustly acts unjustly to himself, because he makes himself bad.

Not only he who does but he who fails to do a certain thing acts wrongly.

Your present opinion founded on understanding and your present conduct directed to social good, and your present disposition of contentment with everything which happens-that is enough.

Wipe out fancy; check desire; extinguish appetite; keep your ruling faculty in control.

Among irrational animals one life is distributed; but among rational animals one intelligent soul is distributed: just as there is one earth for all things which are of an earthy nature, and we see by one light, and breathe one air, all of us that have the faculty of vision and all that have life.

All things which share a common element move towards that which is of the same kind with themselves. Everything which is earthy turns towards the earth, everything which is liquid flows together, and everything which is of an aerial kind does the same, so that they require the application of force to keep them apart. Fire indeed moves upwards on account of the elemental fire; and so ready it is to be kindled with all fire that every substance which is somewhat dry is easily ignited, because there is less mingled with it that is a hindrance to ignition. Accordingly, everything also which participates in the common intelligent nature moves in like manner towards that which is of the same kind, or moves even more. For so much as it is superior in comparison with all other things, in the same degree also is it more ready to mingle with and to be fused with its counterpart. Among animals devoid of reason we find swarms of bees and herds of cattle, and the nurture of young birds, all manifestations of love; for even in animals there are souls, and that power which brings them together is seen to exert itself in the superior degree, and in such a way as never has been observed in plants or in stones or in trees. But among rational animals there are political communities and friendships, and families and meetings of people; and in wars, treaties and armistices. But in the things which are still superior, even though they are separated from one another, unity in a manner exists, as in the stars. Thus the ascent to the higher degree is able to produce a sympathy even in things which are separated. See, then, what now takes place. For only intelligent animals have now forgotten this mutual desire and inclination, and in them alone the flowing together is not seen. But though men strive to avoid this union, they are caught and held by it, for their nature is too strong for them; and you will see what I say, if you only observe. Sooner, then, will one find anything earthy which comes in contact with no earthy thing than a man altogether separated from other men.

10.

Both man and God and the universe produce fruit, at the proper season. It matters not that usage has especially affixed these terms to the vine and like things. Reason produces fruit both for all and for itself, and there are produced from it other things of the same kind as reason itself.

11.

If you are able, correct by teaching those who do wrong; but if you cannot, remember that charity is given you for this purpose. And the gods too extend charity to such persons, helping them attain health, wealth, reputation -so kind they are. And it is in your power also. Who hinders you?

12.

Labor not as one who is wretched, nor yet as one who would be pitied or admired: but direct your will to one thing only, to put yourself in motion and to check yourself as the social law requires.

13.

Today I have got out of all trouble, or rather I have cast out all trouble, for it was not outside, but within, in my opinions.

14.

All things are the same, familiar, ephemeral, worthless; everything now is just as it was in the time of those whom we have buried.

15.

Things stand outside of us, just as they are, neither knowing aught of themselves, nor expressing any judgment. What is it then, which does judge for them? The ruling faculty.

16.

Not in passivity but in activity lies the evil and the good of the rational social animal, just as his virtue and his vice lie not in passivity but in activity.

17.

For the stone which has been thrown up it is no evil to come down, nor indeed any good to have been carried up (VIII, 20).

18.

Penetrate inward into men's ruling principles, and you will see what judges you are afraid of, and how they judge themselves.

19.

All things are changing: and you yourself are in continuous mutation and, in a manner, in continuous destruction, and the universe too.

20.

It is your duty to leave another man's wrongful act where it is (VII, 29; IX, 38).

21.

The end of activity, cessation from movement and opinion-what may be termed their death-is no evil. Now consider your life, your childhood, youth, manhood, and old age-for here also every change was a death. Is this anything to fear? Turn your thoughts now to your life under your grandfather, then under your mother, then under your father; and you find many other differences, changes, and endings. Ask yourself, "Is this anything to fear? " In like manner, then, neither are the end and surcease from life itself anything to fear.

22.

Hasten to examine your own ruling faculty, that of the universe, and of your neighbor; your own, that you may make it just; that of the universe, that you may remember of what you are a part; that of your neighbor, that you may know whether he has acted ignorantly or with knowledge, and that you may also consider that his ruling faculty is akin to yours.

23.

As you yourself are a component part of a social system, so let every act of yours be a component part of social life. Whatever act of yours then has no reference either immediately or remotely to a social end, this tears asunder your life.

24.

Children's quarrels, their games, "poor breath carrying about a corpse," –are not the representations of the "mansions of the dead" more solid and real?

25.

Examine into the essence of the form of an object, and detach it altogether from its material part, and then contemplate it; then determine the full span which a thing of this peculiar form is naturally made to endure.

26.

You have borne infinite troubles through not being contented with your ruling faculty, when it does the things which it is constituted by nature to do. But enough!

27.

When another blames or hates you, or when men say injurious things about you, approach their poor souls, penetrate within, and see what kind of men they are. You will discover that there is no reason to take trouble that these men may have a good opinion of you. However, you must be well disposed towards them, for by nature they are friends. And the gods, too, aid them in all ways, by dreams, by signs, toward the attainment of their aims.

28.

The periodic movements of the universe, up and down and to and fro, continue from age to age. And either the universal intelligence imparts each separate impulse, in which case be content with the result of its activity; or it puts itself in motion once, and everything else comes by way of sequence, in a manner; or indivisible elements are the origin of all things. In a word, if there is a god, all is well; and if chance rules, be not you too governed by it. Soon the earth will cover us all; then the earth, too, will change, and the things which result from change will continue to change forever, and these again forever. For if a man reflects on the changes and transformations which follow one another wave upon wave, he will feel contempt for everything which is perishable (XII, 21).

29.

The universal cause is like a winter torrent: it carries everything along with it. But how worthless are all these poor people who are engaged in matters political, and, as they suppose, are playing the philosopher! All drivelers. Well then, man, do what nature now requires. Set yourself in motion, if it is in your power, and do not look about you to see if anyone is watching; nor yet expect Plato's Republic, but be content if the smallest thing goes on well, and consider such an event to be no small matter. For who can change men's principles? And without a change of principles what else is there than the slavery of men who groan while they pretend to obey? Come now and tell me of Alexander and Philippus and Demetrius of Phalerum. They themselves shall judge whether they discovered what the common nature required, and behave themselves accordingly. But if they acted like tragedy heroes, no one has condemned me to imitate them. Simple and modest is the work of philosophy. Draw me not aside to insolence and pride.

30.

Look down from above on the countless herds of men and their countless solemnities, and the infinitely varied voyaging in storms and calms, and the differences among those who are born, who live together and die. And consider, too, the life lived by others in olden time, and the life of those who will live after you, and the life now lived among barbarous nations, and how many know not even your name, and how many will soon forget it, and how they who perhaps now are praising you will very soon blame you, and that neither a posthumous name is of any value, nor reputation, nor anything else.

31.

Let there be freedom from perturbation with respect to the things which come from external causes, and in actions whose cause lies in yourself, be just; that is, let impulse and action terminate in social acts, for this is according to your nature.

32.

Clear from your mind the many useless things which disturb you, for they lie entirely in your opinion; and you will then gain for yourself ample space by comprehending the whole universe in your mind, and by contemplating the eternity of time, and observing the rapid change of each thing, how short is the time from its birth to its dissolution, and the illimitable time before its birth as well as the equally boundless time after its dissolution.

33.

All that you see will quickly perish, and those who have been spectators of its dissolution will very soon perish too. And he who dies at the extremest old age will be brought into the same condition with him who died prematurely.

34.

What are the ruling principles of these men, and about what kind of things are they busy, and for what kind of reasons do they love and honor? Imagine that you see their poor souls laid bare. When they think that they do harm by their blame or good by their praise, what an idea!

35.

Loss is nothing else than change. But the universal nature delights in change, and in obedience to her all things are now done well, and from eternity have been done in like form, and will be such through endless time. What then do you say? That all things have been and all things always will be bad, and that no power has ever been found among all the gods to set them right, but the world has been condemned to be bound in never-ceasing evil? (IV, 45; VII, 18).

36.

Decay is the material substance of all things-water, dust, bones, filth. What is marble but the callosities of the earth? Gold and silver are but sediments; garments, only bits of hair; purple dye, shellfish blood; and everything else is of the same kind. And even the breath is a thing of the same kind, changing from this to that.

37.

Enough of this complaining and groaning and apelike chatter. Why are you disturbed? What is there new in this? What unsettles you? Is it the form of the thing? Look at it. Or is it the matter? Look at it. Besides these, there is nothing. Towards the gods, then, now at last become simpler and better. It is the same whether we look at these things for a hundred years or three.

38.

If any man has done wrong, the harm is his. But perhaps he has not done wrong.

39.

Either all things proceed from one intelligent source and come together as in one body, and the part ought not to find fault with what is done for the benefit of the whole; or there are only atoms, and nothing else but mixture and dispersion. Why then are you disturbed? Say to the ruling faculty, "Are you dead, corrupted, playing the hypocrite? Are you a mere beast, chewing a cud?"

40.

Either the gods have no power or they have power. If they have no power, why do you pray to them? But if they have power, why do you not pray for deliverance from the fear or the desire or the pain, which a thing causes, rather than pray that any of these things should or should not happen? For certainly if they can help at all, they can help to this end. But perhaps you will say that the gods have placed all that in my own power. Well, then, is it not better to use what is in your power like a free man than to desire in a slavish and abject way what is not in your power? And who has told you that the gods do not aid us even in the things which are in our power? Begin then to pray for such things, and you will see. One man prays to be able to lie with a certain woman; rather should he pray to be freed of desire for her. Another prays to be rid of his enemy; he should pray against wanting to be rid of him. Instead of praying that you may not lose your little one, pray for release from fear. Turn your prayers this way, and see what comes.

41.

Epicurus says, "In sickness my conversation was not about my bodily sufferings, nor did I talk on such subjects to those who visited me; but I continued to discourse on the nature of things as before, keeping to the main point, how the mind, while participating in such movements as go on in the poor flesh, shall be free from disturbance and maintain its proper good. Nor did," he adds, "give the physicians an opportunity of putting on solemn looks, as if they were doing something great, but my life went on well and happily." Do, then, the same that he did both in sickness, if you are sick, and in any other circumstances; for never to desert philosophy in any events that may befall us, and to keep from trifling talk with an ignorant man or one unacquainted with nature is a principle of all schools of philosophy. But be intent only on what you are now doing and on the instrument by which you do it.

42.

When you are offended with any man's shameless conduct, immediately ask yourself, "Is it possible that there should be no shameless men in the world?" It is not possible. Do not, therefore, require what is impossible. For this man is one of those shameless men who must be in the world. Similarly, in the case of the knave, the faithless, and every man who does any kind of wrong. When once you remember that it is impossible to do away with such men, you will become more kindly disposed toward everyone. It is also useful to perceive what virtue nature has given to man to cope with every wrongful act. As an antidote against the stupid man, she has given mildness, and against some other kind of man, some other power. And in all cases it is possible for you to correct by teaching the man who has gone astray; for every man who errs misses his object and is astray. Besides, what harm has he done you? For you will find that no one among those against whom you are irritated has done anything by which your mind could be made worse; and that which is to you evil and harmful has its foundation only in the mind. And what harm is done, or what is there strange, if the man who has not been instructed acts in the manner of an uninstructed one? Consider whether you should not blame yourself, because you did not expect such a man to act in such a way. For reason has given you faculties enabling you to foresee that he would commit this error, and yet you have forgotten and are amazed that he has done so. But most of all, when you blame a man as faithless or ungrateful, turn to yourself. For the fault is manifestly your own, if you trusted a man with such a disposition to keep his promise, or if, when conferring your kindness, you did not do it on principle, or in such a way as to have received from your very act all the profit. For what more do you want when you have done a man a service? Are you not content when you have done something in harmony with your nature, and do you seek to be paid for it? Does the eye demand a reward for seeing, or the feet for walking? For as these members are formed for a particular purpose, and by working according to the law of their being obtain what is their own, so also, as man is formed by nature for acts of benevolence, when he has done anything benevolent or in any way conducive to the common interest, he has acted in harmony with his constitution, and he gets what is his own.

X

Will you then, my soul, never be good and simple, all one and naked, clearer to sight than the body which encompasses you? Will you never enjoy an affectionate and contented disposition? Will you never be full and without a want of any kind, longing for nothing more, either animate or inanimate, for the enjoyment of pleasures? Nor yet desiring time wherein you shall have longer enjoyment, or place, or pleasant climate, or society of men with whom you may live in harmony? But will you be satisfied with your present condition, and pleased with all about you, and will you convince yourself that you have everything and that it comes from the gods, that everything is well for you, and will be well whatever shall please them, and whatever they shall give you for the perfect living being, the good and just and beautiful, which generates and holds together all things, and contains and embraces all things which are dissolved for the production of other like things? Will you never be such that you shall so dwell in community with gods and men as neither to find fault with them at all, nor to be condemned by them?

Observe what your nature requires, so far as you are governed by nature only: then do it and accept it, if your nature shall not be made worse for it. And next you must observe what your nature requires as far as you are a living being, and this you may do, unless it involves injury to your nature as a rational being. But the rational being is consequently also a social being. Follow these rules then, and trouble yourself about nothing else.

Everything which happens either happens in such a way that you are formed by nature to bear it or not to bear it. If what happens to you is within your strength to bear, bear it without complaining; if it is beyond your strength, do not complain, for it will perish after it has destroyed you. Remember, however, that you are formed by nature to bear everything which your own opinion can make endurable and tolerable, by thinking that it is either your interest or your duty to do so.

If a man is mistaken instruct him kindly and show him his error. If you are not able to do this, blame yourself, or blame not even yourself.

Whatever may happen to you, it was prepared for you from all eternity; and the implication of causes was from eternity spinning the thread of your being, and of that which is incident to it (III, 11; IV, 26).

Whether the universe is a concourse of atoms or nature's law, let this be first established, that I am a part of the whole which is governed by nature; next, I am intimately related to the parts which are of the same kind with myself. For remembering this, inasmuch as I am a part, I shall be discontented with none of the things which are assigned to me out of the whole; for nothing is injurious to the part, if it is for the advantage of the whole. For the whole contains nothing which is not for its own good; and all natures indeed have this common principle, but the nature of the universe has this principle besides, that it cannot be compelled even , by any external cause to generate anything harmful to itself. By remembering then that I am a part of such a whole, I shall be content with everything which happens. And inasmuch as I am in a manner intimately related to the parts which are the same kind with myself, I shall do nothing unsocial, but I shall rather direct myself to the things which are of the same kind with myself, and I shall turn all my efforts to the common interest, and avert them from the contrary. Now if these things are done so, life must flow on happily, just as you may observe that the life of a citizen is happy if he continues a course of action which is advantageous to his fellow citizens, and is content with whatever the state may assign to him.

The parts of the whole which are comprehended in the universe must of necessity perish, that is, they must undergo change. But if this is both an evil and a necessity to the parts, the whole could not escape deterioration, seeing the parts are subject to change and prone to perish in various ways. Did nature herself design to do evil to the things which are parts of herself, and to make them subject to evil and of necessity fall into evil, or have such things happened without her knowing it? Both these suppositions are indeed incredible. But if a man should even drop the term "nature" as an efficient power, and should speak of these changes as natural, even then it would be ridiculous to affirm at the same time that the parts of the whole are naturally subject to change, and at the same time to be surprised or vexed as if something were happening contrary to nature, particularly such as the dissolution of things into the original elements. For there is either a dispersion of the elements out of which everything has been compounded, or a change from the solid to the earthy and from the spiritual to the aerial, so that these parts are taken back into the universal reason, whether this at certain periods is consumed by fire or renewed by eternal changes. And do not imagine that the solid and the spiritual part belong to you from the time of your begetting. For it received its increase only yesterday and the day before, so to speak, from the food you eat and the air you breathe. This then that has received changes from without is not that which your mother brought forth. But even admitting that you are intimately bound up with that, by your individuality, this does not affect the argument.

When you have assumed these attributes-good, modest, true, rational, equable, magnanimous-take care that you do not change them; and if you should lose them, quickly return to them. And remember that the term "rational" was intended to signify a discriminating attention to every separate thing and freedom from negligence; and that equanimity is the voluntary acceptance of the things which are assigned to you by the common nature; and that magnanimity is the elevation of the intelligent part above the pleasurable or painful sensations of the flesh, and above fame, and death, and all such trials. If then you keep true to these attributes, without desiring that others should recognize that you have them, you will be another person and will enter on another life. For to continue to be such as you had hitherto been, and to be tom in pieces and defiled in such a life, is the character of a very stupid man, one overfond of his life, and like those half-devoured fighters with wild beasts, who though covered with wounds and gore, still entreat to be kept to the following day, to be flung once more to the same claws and bites. Therefore, fix yourself firmly in the possession of these few attributes, and if you are able to stand fast, stand fast as if you were transported to the Happy Isles. But if you find yourself falling, and cannot maintain your hold, go courageously into some nook where you can still hold on, or even depart at once from life, not in passion, but with simplicity and freedom and modesty, after doing this one thing, at least, bravely-to leave it thus. In order, however, to aid the remembrance of these attributes, it will greatly help you, if you remember the gods, and that they do not wish to be flattered, but wish all reasonable beings to be made like themselves, and be as the fig tree doing the work of a fig tree, the dog a dog's, the bee a bee's, and man a man's work.

A stage play, war, terror, torpor, slavery-all these will daily help to wipe out your sacred principles. How many things without studying nature do you overlook, and how many do you neglect! But it is your duty to look on and to do everything, that at the same time the power of dealing with circumstances is perfected, and the contemplative faculty is exercised, and the confidence which comes from the knowledge of each separate thing is maintained without being apparent nor yet concealed. Ah, when will you enjoy simplicity, gravity, and when the knowledge of every separate thing, both what it is in substance, and what place it has in the universe, and how long it is formed to exist and of what things it is compounded, and to whom it can belong, and who are able both to give it and take it away?

10.

A spider is proud when it has caught a fly; so is a man when he has caught a hare, another when he has taken a fish in a net, another when he has killed wild boars or bears, another when he has captured Sarmatians. Are they not all brigands, if you look into their principles?

11.

Acquire the contemplative way of seeing how all things change into one another, and constantly attend to it, and exercise yourself about this part of philosophy. Nothing is so apt to produce magnanimity. Such a man has put off the body, and as he sees that at any moment he must go away from among men and leave everything here, he gives himself entirely up to just actions, and in everything else that happens he resigns himself to the universal nature. But as to what any man shall say or think about him or do against him, he never even thinks of it, being himself contented with these two things, with acting justly in what he . now does, and being satisfied with what is now assigned to him; and he lays aside all distracting and busy pursuits, and desires nothing else than to run the straight course and by so doing follow God.

12.

What need is there of suspicious fear, since it is in your power to inquire what ought to be done? And if all is clear, go forward content, without turning back; but if all is not clear, stop and take the best of counsel. But if any other things oppose you, go on according to your powers with due consideration, keeping to that which appears just. For it is best to aim at this, and if you fail, let your failure be in making this attempt. He who follows reason in all things is both tranquil and active at the same time, and also cheerful and collected.

13.

Inquire of yourself as soon as you awaken from sleep whether it will make any difference to you if another does what is just and right. It will make no difference (VI 32; VIII, 55).
Have you forgotten that those who assume arrogant airs in bestowing their praise or blame on others are the same in bed and at table? Have you forgotten what it is they pursue and avoid, how they steal-not with hands and feet, but with their most valuable part, by means of which, if a man chooses, he arrives at fidelity, modesty, truth, law (VII, 17).

14.

To nature who gives and takes back all, the man who is instructed and modest says, "Give what thou wilt; take back what thou wilt." And he says this not proudly, but obediently and with good will.

15.

Little of life remains to you. Live as on a mountain. For it makes no difference whether a man lives there or here, if he lives everywhere as a citizen of the world. Let men see, let them know a real man who lives according to nature. If they cannot endure him, let them kill him. For that is better than to live as they do.

16.

No longer talk about the kind of man a good man ought to be, but be one.

17.

Constantly contemplate the whole of time and the whole of substance, and consider that all things as to substance are a seed of a fig, and as to time the turning of a screw.

18.

Look at everything that exists, and observe that it is already in dissolution and in change, by putrefaction and dispersion, or by its own way of death.

19.

Consider what men are like-eating, sleeping, breeding, easing themselves, and so forth. Look at their wantonness, their arrogance and rages. But a short time ago how many of them bowed the knee-and for what ends; and after a little time consider in what condition they will be.

20.

What the universal nature brings to each thing, and when it brings it, is for its good.

21.

"The earth loves the shower"; and "the solemn ether loves"; and the universe loves to make whatever is about to be. I say then to the universe that I love as thou lovest. And is it not also said, "this or that loves to be produced"?

22.

Either you live here and have already accustomed yourself to it, or you are going away, and this was your own wish; or you are dying and have discharged your duty. Besides these things there is nothing: be of good cheer then.

23.

Let this always be plain to you, that this piece of land is like any other; and that what is here is the same as what is on top of a mountain, or on the seashore, or wherever you choose; as Plato says of his philosopher, whose retreat is "like a shepherd's fold on a mountain."

24.

What of my ruling faculty at this minute, and what am I making of it? For what purpose am I using it? Is it void of understanding? Is it loosed and rent asunder from social life? Is it melted into and mixed with the poor flesh so as to move together with it?

25.

The slave who flies from his master is a runaway; the law is master and he who breaks the law is a runaway. Vexation, anger, and fear mean refusal of something, past, present, or to come, ordained by him who rules all things, Law, who allots to every man what is fit. He then who fears or is grieved or is angry is a runaway.

26.

A man deposits a seed in a womb and goes away, and another cause takes up the work and makes a child. What a flower from what a seed! Again, the child swallows food, and then another cause takes it and makes perception and motion and, in short, life and strength and other things-how many and how strange! Observe then the things which are produced in such a hidden way and see the power behind them-just as we perceive the power that carries things downwards and upwards, not with the eye, but still no less plainly (VII, 75).

27.

Consider that the things of the present also existed in times past; and consider that they will be the same again. And place before your eyes, from your own experience or from the pages of history, these dramas and scenes: the courts of Hadrian, Antoninus, Philip, Alexander, Croesus; all the same plays, only with different actors.

28.

Imagine every man who is grieved at anything or discontented to be like a sacrificial pig which kicks and squeals. Like this pig also is he who on his bed in silence laments the bonds in which we are held. And remember that it is given only to the rational animal to go along freely with all that comes; merely to submit is a necessity imposed on all.

29.

Point by point, whenever we do anything, let us pause and ask ourselves if death is a dreadful thing because it deprives us of this.

30.

When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings; for example, in thinking that money, or reputation, or pleasure are good things. By attending to this you will quickly forget your anger, if this consideration is also added: that the man is compelled to act as he does; if you can, take away from him the compulsion.

31.

When you see Satyron, Eutyches, or Hymen, think of some follower of Socrates ; and let the sight of Euphrates remind you of Eutychion or Silvanus; Alciphron of Tropaeophorus; Xenophon of Crito or Severns; a look at yourself, of some Caesar of the past. And in every other case, reflect: Where are they all now? Nowhere, or nobody knows where. In this way you will come to look at human things as smoke and nothingness; especially if you reflect at the same time that what has once changed will never again exist through all eternity. What a brief span is the period of your life! Why are you not content to pass it in an orderly way? What matter and opportunity for your activity are you avoiding? For what are such things but exercises for the reason, viewing the happenings of life in their true nature? Persevere until you have made these things your own, just as the healthy stomach assimilates its food, or a blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it. Let it not be in any man's power to say truly of you that you are not simple and good; let it be a lie if anyone shall think anything of this kind about you; this is wholly in your power. For who shall hinder you from being good and simple? You have only to decide to live no longer, if you cannot be such a man. For in that case, it does not stand with reason that you should live.

33.

With this material, what can be done or said in the way most conformable to reason? For whatever this may be, it is in your power to do or say it, and do not make excuses that you are hindered. You will never cease lamenting until your mind is in such a condition that you will make use of all materials and every opportunity to fulfill the law of your being, enjoying this as luxury-lovers enjoy pleasure. For a man ought to consider as an enjoyment everything which it is in his power to do according to his own nature; and the opening is always there. Now it is not given to a cylinder to move everywhere by its own motion, nor yet to water nor to fire, nor to anything else which is governed by nature or an irrational soul, for the things which check them are many. But intelligence and reason are able to go through everything that opposes them, and in such manner as they are formed by nature and as they choose. Recall the facility with which the reason will find a way, as a stone drops or a cylinder rolls down an inclined plane-and look no further. For all these obstacles either affect the body only which is a dead thing; or, except through opinion and the yielding of the reason itself, they do not crush or do any kind of harm; for if they did he who felt it would immediately be injured. Now in the case of things of a certain constitution, whatever harms any of them, that which is so affected becomes consequently worse; but in this case the man becomes both better, if one may say so, and more worthy of praise by making right use of these accidents. And finally remember that nothing harms the citizens which does not harm the state; nor does anything harm the state which does not harm law. But so-called misfortunes do not harm law. What then does not harm law harms neither state nor citizen.

34.

To him who is imbued with true principles even the briefest and commonest precept is sufficient to remind him that he should be free from grief and fear. For example,

Leaves, some the wind scatters on the ground –
So is the race of men.

Leaves also are your children; and leaves too are they who cry out their praises or curses, or secretly blame or sneer; and leaves, too, are those who shall receive and transmit a man's fame to the future. For all such things as these "are produced in the season of spring," as the poet says; then the wind casts them down; then the frost produces other leaves in their places. But a brief existence is common to all things, and yet you pursue and avoid things as if they would be eternal. A little time and your eyes will close; and he who attends you to your grave another will soon lament.

35.

The healthy eye ought to see all visible things and not to say, "I wish for green things"; for this is the condition of a diseased eye. And the healthy hearing and smelling should be ready to perceive all that can be heard and smelled. And the healthy stomach ought to receive food as the mill receives that which it was made to grind. And, accordingly, the healthy understanding ought to be prepared for everything which happens; but that which says, "Let my dear children live, and let all men praise whatever I may do," is an eye which seeks for green things, or teeth which seek for soft things.

36.

There is no man so fortunate that there shall not be by him when he is dying some who are pleased with what is going to happen. Suppose that he was a good and wise man, will there not be at the last some to say of him, "Let us at last breathe freely being relieved from this schoolmaster"? "It is true that he was harsh to none of us, but I perceived that he tacitly condemns us." This is what is said of a good man. But in our own case how many other things are there for which there are many who wish to get rid of us. You will consider this then when you are dying, and you will depart more contentedly by reflecting thus: "I am going away from such a life, in which even my associates in behalf of whom I have striven so much, prayed, and cared, themselves wish me to depart, hoping perchance to get some little advantage by it." Why then should a man cling to a longer stay here? Do not, however, for this reason go away less kindly disposed to them, but preserving your own character, and continuing friendly and benevolent and kind, and on the other hand not as if you were torn away; but as when a man dies a quiet death, the soul is easily separated from the body, such also ought your departure from men to be. Nature united the elements of which she compounded you, and now she dissolves the union. Well, I am but separated from kinsmen, unresisting and unrebellious; for this too is according to nature.

37.

Whatever is being done, accustom yourself as much as possible to inquire, "Why is this man doing this thing?" But begin with yourself, and examine yourself first.

38.

Remember that what pulls the strings is hidden within: this is the power of persuasion, this is life, this-if one may say so-is man. In contemplating yourself never include the vessel which surrounds you and these organs attached to it. They are like tools, differing in this only, that they grow to the body. For indeed there is no more use in these parts without the cause that moves and checks them than in the weaver's shuttle or the writer's pen or the driver's whip.

XI

These are the properties of the rational soul; it sees itself, analyzes itself, and makes itself what it wills, bears and enjoys its own fruit, while in the vegetable or animal world the fruit is enjoyed by others; it obtains its own wherever the limit of life may be fixed. In a dance or in a play an interruption leaves the action incomplete; not so with the soul; at every point and wherever it may be stopped, its task is full and complete, so that it can say, "I have what is my own." And further, it traverses the whole universe and the surrounding vacuum, and surveys its form, and extends itself into the infinity of time, and embraces and comprehends the periodical regeneration of all things, and it comprehends that those who come after us will see nothing new, nor have those before us seen anything more, but he who is forty years old, if he has any understanding at all, has seen everything, by virtue of the uniformity of things past and to come. This too is a property of the rational soul, love of one's neighbor, and truth and modesty, and to value nothing more than itself, which is also the property of law. Thus right reason differs not at all from the reason of justice.

You will set little value on the delights of song and dance and the pancratium, if you will break up the melody into its several sounds, and ask yourself as to each, if this is what enchanted you? For you will be prevented by shame from confessing it. And in the matter of dancing, if at each movement and attitude you will do the same; and similarly with the pancratium. In all things, then, except virtue and virtuous acts, remember to apply yourself to their several parts, and by this division to come to value them little. Apply this rule to your whole life.

O for a soul that is ready at any moment to be separated from the body, either to be extinguished or dispersed or continue to exist! This readiness must come from a man's own judgment, not from mere obstinacy, as with the Christians, and considerately and with dignity, in a way that will persuade others, without tragic show.

Have I done something for the general interest? Well, I have had my reward. Let this be always present to your mind and never grow weary.

What is your art? To be good. And how is this achieved except by understanding general principles, some about the nature of the universe, and others about man's own constitution?

Tragedies, the first form of drama, were brought on the stage as a means of reminding men of the things which happen to them, and that it is according to nature for things to happen so, and that, if you are delighted with what is shown on the stage, you should not be troubled with what takes place on the larger stage. For you see that the play must end in such a way, and that even in such cries as "O Cithaeron," there is strength to bear. And the dramatists give us words of help, such as the following:

Me and my children, if the gods neglect,
This has its reason too.

And again,

We must not chafe at that which happens;

And

Life's harvest reap like the wheat's fruitful ear.

And other things of the same kind.

After tragedy the old comedy was introduced. This had a magisterial freedom of speech, and by its very plainness of speaking was useful in reminding men to beware of insolence, somewhat in the style used by Diogenes. But as to the middle comedy which came next, note what it was; and for what object the new comedy was introduced, which gradually sank down into a mere mimic artifice. That some good things are said even by these writers everyone knows; but what is the main purpose of this school of drama, to what end does it look?

It seems plain that there is not another condition of life so well suited for philosophy as this in which you now find yourself.

A branch cut off from the adjacent branch must of necessity be cut off from the whole tree also. So too a man when he is separated from another man has fallen off from the whole social community. Now as to a branch, another cuts it off, but a man by his own act separates himself from his neighbor when he hates him and turns away from him, and he does not know that he has at the same time cut himself off from the whole social system. Yet he has this privilege certainly from Zeus who framed society, for it is in our power to grow again to that which is near to us, and again to become a part which helps to make up the whole. However, if this kind of separation happens often, it makes it difficult for that which detaches itself to be brought to unity and to be restored to its former condition. Finally, the branch, which from the first grew together with the tree, and has continued to have one life with it, is not like that which after being cut off is then ingrafted, but it is something like what the gardeners mean when they say that it grows with the rest of the tree, but has not the same mind with it.

As those who try to stand in your way when you are proceeding according to right reason will not be able to turn you aside from your proper action, so neither let them drive you from your benevolent feelings towards them, but be on your guard equally in both matters, not only in the matter of steady judgment and action, but also in the matter of gentleness towards those who try to hinder or otherwise trouble you. For it is a weakness to be vexed at them as it is to be diverted from your course of action and to give way through fear; for both are equally deserters from their post, the man who acts through fear, and the man who is alienated from his natural brother and friend.

10.

Nature is never inferior to art, for the arts imitate nature. If so, nature in its most perfect and comprehensive form cannot fall short of art. Now all arts do the inferior things for the sake of the superior: therefore the universal nature does so too. And indeed here is the origin of justice, and in justice all other virtues have their foundation; for justice will not be observed if we either care for secondary things, or are easily deceived, or careless, or changeable (V, 16; VII, 55).

11.

The things-which either to get or to avoid you go to so much trouble-come not to you, but you, rather, go to them. Let then your judgment about them be at rest, and they will remain quiet too, and you will not be seen either pursuing or avoiding.

12.

The spherical form of the soul maintains its figure, when it is neither extended towards any object, nor contracted inwards, nor dispersed, nor sinks down, but is illuminated by light, by which it sees the truth, the truth of all things and that which is in itself (VII, 41, 45; XII, 3).

13.

Does any man despise me? Let him see to that. But I shall see to this, that I be not discovered doing or saying anything worthy of contempt. Shall any man hate me? That is his affair. But I will be mild and benevolent towards everyone, ready to show his mistake to this very man, not reproachfully, nor yet as making a display of my forbearance, but nobly and honestly, like the great Phocion, unless indeed he only assumed it. That is the proper inner state, and a man should not be seen by the gods to be either dissatisfied or complaining. For what evil is it to you, if you are now doing what is agreeable to your own nature, and are satisfied with that which at the moment is suitable to nature, since you are a human being placed at your post to endure whatever is for the common advantage?

14.

Men despise one another, and flatter one another; and men wish to raise themselves above one another, and crouch before one another.

15.

How unsound and insincere is he who says, "I have determined to deal with you in a fair way." What, do you have to give notice of fairness? It will show soon enough in action. Truth will be plainly written on your forehead. A man's character shows itself in his voice and eyes, just as lovers may read everything in each other's eyes. The man who is honest and good ought to be like a man who has a strong odor: anyone who comes near must smell whether he choose or not. But the affectation of simplicity is like a crooked stick. Nothing is more disgraceful than a wolfish friendship. Avoid this most of all. The good and simple and benevolent show all these things in the eyes, and there is no mistaking.

16.

As to the perfecting of life, this power is in the soul, and it grows by being indifferent towards things which are indifferent. And it will be indifferent if it looks on each of these things separately and all together, and if it remembers that not one of them produces in us an opinion about itself, nor comes to us; but these things remain immovable, and it is we ourselves who produce the judgments about them, and, as we may say, write them on our minds, it being in our power not to write them, and it being in our power, if perchance these judgments have gained admission imperceptibly, to wipe them out. And the need for such discipline will be necessary only for a short time, and then life will be at an end. Why make a grievance out of doing this? For if these things are according to nature, rejoice in them, and they will be easy for you; but if contrary to nature, seek what is in harmony with your own nature and strive towards this, even if it bring no reputation; for every man is allowed to seek his own good.

17.

Consider whence each thing comes, of what it consists, and into what it changes, what it will be like when changed, and that it will sustain no harm.

18.

Consider these things: First, what is my relation to men; we are made for one another; or, in another view, I was made to be set over them, as a ram over a flock or a bull over a herd. But examine the question from first principles: If all things are not mere atoms, it is nature which orders all things; if this is so, the inferior things exist for the sake of the superior, and these for the sake of one another (II, I; LX, 39; v, 16; III, 4).

Second, consider how men are at table, in bed, and so forth; and particularly, under what compulsions they are with respect to opinions; and as to their acts, consider with what pride they do what they do (VIII, 14; IX, 34).

Third, that if men do rightly what they do, we ought not to be displeased; but if they do not right, it is plain that they do so involuntarily and in ignorance. For as every soul is unwillingly deprived of the truth, so also is it unwillingly deprived of the power of behaving to each man according to his deserts. Accordingly, men are pained when they are called unjust, ungrateful, and greedy, or charged with behaving wrongfully to their neighbors (VII, 62, 63; II, I; VII, 26; VIII, 29).

Fourth, consider that you also do many things wrong, that you are a man like others; and even if you abstain from certain faults, you still have the disposition to commit them, though either through cowardice, or concern for reputation, or some such mean motive, you refrain from wrongdoing (I, 17).

Fifth, consider that you do not even know whether men are doing wrong or not, for many things are done with a certain reference to circumstances. In short, a man must learn a great deal to enable him to pass a correct judgment on another man's acts (IX, 38; IV, 51).

Sixth, consider when you are vexed or grieved that man's life is only a moment, and after a short time we all lie stretched in death (VII, 58; IV, 48).

Seventh, that it is not men's acts which disturb us, for those acts have their foundation in men's ruling principles, but it is our own opinions regarding them. Take away these opinions then, and resolve to dismiss your judgment about an act as if it were something grievous, and your anger is gone. How then shall you take away these opinions? By reflecting that no wrongful act of another brings shame on you; for since that which is shameful is alone bad, you must of necessity do all sorts of evil, become a robber and everything else (V, 25; VII, 16).

Eighth, consider how much more pain is brought on us by the anger and vexation caused by such acts than by the acts themselves, at which we are angry and vexed (IV, 39, 49; VII, 24).

Ninth, consider that benevolence is invincible if it be genuine, and not merely an affected smile and playing a part. For what will the most violent man do to you, if you continue to be of a benevolent disposition towards him and, as opportunity offers, gently admonish him and calmly correct his errors at the very time he is trying to do you harm, saying, "Not so, my child. We are constituted by nature for something else: I shall certainly not be injured, but you are injuring yourself, my child." And show him with gentle tact and by general principles that this is so, and that even bees do not as he does, nor any animals which are formed by nature to be gregarious. And do this neither with any double meaning, nor in the way of reproach, but affectionately and without rancor in your soul; and not as if you were lecturing him, or to show off before others, but quietly in his own ear, even if others are present. Remember these nine rules, as if you had received them as a gift from the Muses, and begin at last to be a man so long as you live. But you must equally avoid flattering men and being vexed at them, for both are unsocial and lead to harm. And let this truth be present to you in the excitement of anger, that to be moved by passion is not manly, but that mildness and gentleness are more manly, just as they are more in conformity with human nature. And he who possesses these qualities possesses strength, nerves, and courage, and not the man who is subject to fits of passion and discontent. For in the same degree in which a man's mind is nearer to freedom from all passion, in the same degree also is it nearer to strength; and as the sense of pain is a characteristic of weakness, so also is anger. For he who yields to pain and he who yields to anger are both wounded, and both submit. But if you will, receive also a tenth gift from Apollo, leader of the Muses, and it is this: That to expect bad men not to do wrong is madness, for he who expects this desires an impossibility. But to allow men to behave evilly to each other, and not to expect them to do you any wrong is irrational and tyrannical.

19.

There are four principal aberrations of the superior faculty against which you should be constantly on guard, and when you have detected them you should wipe them out, saying on each occasion: This thought is not necessary; this tends to destroy social union; this which you are going to say comes not from your real thoughts-for you should consider it the most absurd of things for a man not to speak his real thoughts. But the fourth is when you reproach yourself for anything, for this is evidence of the diviner part within being overpowered and yielding to the less honorable and perishable part, the body, and to its gross pleasures (IV, 24; II, 16).

20.

Your aerial pan and all the fiery pans which are mingled in you, though by nature they have an upward tendency, still in obedience to the disposition of the universe they submit and keep their place in the compound mass. And also, the earthy and watery pans in you, whose tendency is downward, are raised up and keep a position which is not theirs by nature. In this manner then the elemental pans obey the universal, for when they have been fixed in any place they remain there until the universal sounds the signal for dissolution. Is it not then strange that your intelligent pan alone should be disobedient with its own place? And yet no force is imposed on it, but only those things which are in harmony with its nature; even so, it does not submit, but is carried in the opposite direction. For the movement towards injustice and intemperance, anger, grief, and fear, is nothing else than the act of one who deviates from nature. And when the ruling faculty is discontented, then too it deserts its post; for it is constituted for piety and reverence towards the gods, no less than for justice. For these qualities also are comprehended under the generic term of contentment with the constitution of things, and indeed they are prior to acts of justice.

21.

He who has not one and always the same object in life cannot be one and the same all through his life. But what I have said is not enough, unless this also is added, what this object ought to be. For as there is not the same opinion about all the things which in some way or other are considered by the majority to be good, but only about some certain things, that is, things which concern the common interest; so also ought we to propose to ourselves an aim which shall be of a social and political kind. For he who directs all his own efforts to this end, will make all his acts alike, and thus will always be the same.

22.

Think of the country mouse and of the town mouse, and of the alarm and trepidation of the town mouse.

23.

Socrates used to call the opinions of the many by the name of "Lamiae," bugbears to frighten children.

24.

The Lacedaemonians at their public spectacles used to set seats in the shade for strangers, but themselves sat down anywhere.

25.

Socrates excused himself to Perdiccas for not going to him, saying, "It is because I would not perish by the worst of all ends, that is, I would not receive a favor and then be unable to return to it."

26.

In the writings of the Ephesians there was this precept, constantly to think of some one of the men of former times who practiced virtue.

27.

The Pythagoreans bid us in the morning look to the heavens that we may be reminded of those bodies which continually do the same things and in the same manner perform their work, and also be reminded of their purity and nudity. For there is no veil over a star.

28.

Consider what a man Socrates was when he dressed himself in a skin, after Xantippe had taken his cloak and gone out, and what Socrates said to his friends who were ashamed of him and drew back from him when they saw him dressed thus.

29.

Neither in writing nor in reading will you be able to lay down rules for others before you shall have first learned to obey the rules yourself. Much more is this so in life.

30.

A slave thou art: reason is not for thee!

31.

And my heart laughed within!

32.

Virtue they will curse with harsh words.

33.

"To look for the fig in winter is a madman's act; such is he who looks for his child when the time is past."

34.

"When a man kisses his child he should whisper to himself, Tomorrow, perchance you may die." "But those are words of bad omen." "No word is of bad omen which expresses any work of nature; or if it is so it is also a word of bad omen to speak of the ears of com being reaped."

35.

"The unripe grape, the ripe bunch, the dried grape, are all changes, not into nothing, but into something which exists not yet."

36.

"No man can rob us of our free will."

37.

Epictetus also said, "A man must discover rules for giving his assent; and in respect to his movements he must be careful that they be made with regard to circumstances, consistent with social interests, and have regard to the value of the object; and as to sensual desire, he should keep from it altogether; and as to aversion, he should show it with respect to things not in our power."

38.

"The dispute then," he said, "is not about any common matter, but about being mad or not."

39.

Socrates used to say: "What do you want-souls of rational or irrational men? If souls of rational men, what rational men? Sound or unsound?" "Sound." "Then why do you not seek them?" "Because we have them." "Why then do you fight and quarrel?"

XII

All those things to which you wish to attain sooner or later, you can have now, if you do not refuse them; if only you will take no notice of the past, and trust the future to providence, and direct the present in harmony with piety and justice. In harmony with piety that you may be content with the lot which is assigned to you, for nature designed it for you and you for it. In harmony with justice, that you may always speak the truth freely and without disguise, and do the things which are agreeable to law and according to the worth of each. And let neither another man's wickedness hinder you, nor opinion, nor voice, nor any persuasion of the flesh; for let that which suffers look to itself. If then, whatever the time may be when you shall be near your departure, you shall respect only your ruling faculty and the divinity within you, neglecting everything else, and if you are afraid-not that you shall some day cease to live but that you shall never have begun to live according to nature-then you will be a man worthy of the universe which has produced you, and you will cease to be a stranger in your native land, and to wonder at things which happen daily as if they were something unexpected and to be dependent on this event or that.

God sees the ruling principles of all men bared of the material vesture and rind and impurities. With his mental being he touches the intelligence which has flowed and been derived from himself into these bodies. If you accustom yourself to the same habit, you will rid yourself of much trouble. For he who looks not to his poor fleshly shell surely will not trouble himself by looking after raiment, houses, fame, and such externals and show.

You are composed of three things: body, life, intelligence. Of these the first two are yours, inasmuch as it is your duty to take care of them; but the third alone is really yours. Therefore if you will separate from yourself, that is, from your understanding, whatever others do or say, and whatever you have done or said yourself, and whatever future things trouble you because they may happen, and -whatever in the body which envelops you or in the breath which is by nature associated with the body is attached to you independent of your will, and whatever the external circumfluent vortex whirls round, so that the intellectual power, exempt from the things of fate, can live pure and free by itself, doing what is just and accepting what happens and saying the truth; if you will 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 will make yourself like Empedocles' sphere, All round, and in its joyous rest reposing; and if you strive to live only what is really your life, that is, the present-then you will be able to pass that portion of life which remains for you up to the time of your death, free from perturbations, nobly, and obedient to your own deity within (II, 13, 17; III, 5, 6; XI, 12).

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. For if 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. So much more respect have we for what our neighbors think of us than for what we think of ourselves.

How can it be that the gods, after having arranged all things well and benevolently for mankind, have overlooked only this, that some men and very good men, and men who through pious acts and religious observances have had most intimate communion 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 assured that it ought not to have been so: for you see that in this inquiry you are disputing with the deity; and we could not thus dispute with the gods unless they were most excellent and just; but if this is so, they would not have allowed anything in the ordering of the universe to be neglected unjustly and irrationally.

Practice even at the things which you despair 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 practiced in this.

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.

Contemplate the formative principles 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.

In the application of your principles you must be like the pancratiast, l 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 in harmony with 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; VIII, 17).

13.

How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life!

14.

Either there is a fatal necessity and invincible order, or a kind of providence, or a confusion without a purpose and without a director (IV, 27). If then there is an invincible necessity, why do you resist? But if there is a providence which allows itself to be propitiated, make yourself worthy of the help of the divinity. But if all is confusion without a governor, be content that in such a tempest you have in yourself a certain ruling intelligence. And even if the tempest carry you away, let it carry away the poor flesh, the breath, everything else; for the intelligence at least it will not sweep away.

15.

Does the light of the lamp shine without losing its radiance until it is extinguished? Shall the truth and justice and temperance which is in you be extinguished?

16.

When a man gives the impression of wrongdoing, say to yourself, "How do I know that it is a wrongful act? " And even if he has done wrong, how do I know that he has not condemned himself-like the mourner tearing his own face? Remember that he who would not have the bad man do wrong is like one who would not have the fig tree bear juice in its figs and infants to cry and horses to neigh, and whatever else must of necessity be. For what must a man do who has such a character? If then you are irritable with a man, amend his disposition.

17.

If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.

18.

In everything always observe what the thing is which produces an appearance, and resolve it by dividing it into the causal, the material, the purpose, and the time within which it must end.

19.

Perceive at last that you have within you something better and more divine than the things which cause the various effects, and, as it were, pull you around by strings. What is there now in your mind? Is it fear, or suspicion, or desire, or anything of the kind? (V, 11).

20.

First, do nothing thoughtlessly or without a purpose. Secondly, see that your acts are directed to a social end.

21.

Consider that before long you will be nobody and nowhere, nor will any of the things exist which you now see, 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 your power. Disown opinion when you choose; and like a mariner, who has doubled the promontory, you will find calm, still waters 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 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. 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 it is nothing 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 the universal. For thus man becomes one with the deity, moved in the same manner with the deity in tendency and intent.

24.

These three principles you must have in readiness. Do nothing either inconsiderately or otherwise than as justice herself would act; but with respect to what may happen to you from without, consider that it happens either by chance or according to providence, and you 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 you should suddenly be raised up above the earth, and should look down on human things, and observe the variety of them how great it is, and at the same time also should 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 you should be raised up you would see the same things, sameness of form and shortness of duration. Are these things any ground for pride?

25.

Cast away opinion: you are saved. Who hinders you from casting it away?

26.

When you are troubled about anything, you have forgotten this, that all things happen according to the universal nature, and that a man's wrongful act is nothing to you; and further you have forgotten this, that everything which happens always happened so, and will happen so, and now happens so everywhere; forgotten this too, how close is the kinship between a man and the whole human race, for it is a community, not of a little blood or seed, but of intelligence. And you have forgotten this too, that every man's intelligence is a god, and is an efflux of the deity; and that nothing is a man's own, but that his child and his body and his very soul came from the deity; that everything is opinion; and lastly, that every man lives the present time only, and loses only this.

27.

Constantly bring to your recollection those who have complained greatly about anything, those who have been most conspicuous by the greatest fame, or misfortunes and enmities, or fortunes of any kind; then think where are they all now? Smoke and ash and a tale and not even a tale. And let there be present to your mind also things of this sort, how Fabius Catullinus lived in the country, and Lucius Lupus in his gardens, and Stertinius at Baiae, and Tiberius at Capri, and Rufus at Velia; and, in short, think of the eager pursuit of anything joined together with pride; and how worthless everything is after which men strain violently; and how much more philosophical it is for a man in the opportunities presented to him to show himself just, temperate, obedient to the gods, and to do this with all simplicity: for the pride which is proud of its want of pride is the most intolerable of all.

28.

To those who ask, "Where have you seen the gods and how do you know they exist, that you worship them as you do?" I answer: "In the first place, they may be seen even with the eyes; in the second place, neither have I seen even my own soul and yet I honor it. Thus then with respect to the gods, from what I constantly experience of their power, from this I comprehend that they exist and I venerate them."

29.

The safety of life is this, to examine everything all through, what it is itself, what is its material, what the causal part; and with all your soul to do justice and to speak the truth. What remains except to enjoy life by joining one good thing to another so as not to leave even the smallest gap between?

30.

There is one light of the sun though it is distributed over walls, mountains, and other things infinite. There is one common substance, though it is distributed among countless bodies which have their several qualities. There is one soul, though it is distributed among infinite natures and individuals. There is one intelligent soul, though it seems to be divided. Now in the things which have been mentioned all the other parts, such as those which are air and substance, are without sensation and have no fellowship: and yet even these parts the intelligent principle holds together and they gravitate towards the same. But intellect in a peculiar manner tends to that which is of the same kin, and combines with it, and the feeling for communion is not interrupted.

31.

What do you wish? To continue to exist? Well, do you wish to have sensation, movement, growth? And then again to cease to grow, to use speech, to think? What is there of all these things which seems to you worth desiring? But if it is easy to set little value on all these things, turn to that which remains, which is to follow reason and God. But it is inconsistent with honoring reason. and God to be troubled because by death a man will be deprived of the other things.

32.

How small a part of the boundless and unfathomable time is assigned to every man! In a moment it is swallowed up in the eternal. And how small a part of the whole substance, and how small a part of the universal soul! And on what a small clod of the whole earth you creep! Reflecting on all this, consider nothing to be great, except to act as your nature leads you and to endure that which the common nature brings.

33.

How does the ruling faculty make use of itself? For all lies in this. But everything else, whether it is in the power of your will or not, is only lifeless ashes and smoke.

34.

This reflection is most adapted to move us to contempt of death, that even those who think pleasure to be a good and pain an evil still have despised it.

35.

The man to whom that only is good which comes in due season, and to whom it is the same thing whether he has done more or fewer acts conformable to right reason, and to whom it makes no difference whether he contemplates the world for a longer or a shorter time-for this man neither is death a terrible thing (III, 7; VI, 23; X, 20; XII, 23).

36.

Man, you have been a citizen in this great state (II, 16; III, 11; IV, 29): what difference does it make to you whether for five years or three? For that which is conformable to the laws is just for all. Where is the hardship then, if no tyrant nor yet an unjust judge sends you away from the state, but nature who brought you into it? The same as if a praetor who has employed an actor dismisses him from the stage. "But I have not finished the five acts, but only three of them." Good, but in life the three acts are the whole drama. For what shall constitute a complete drama is determined by him who first caused its composition, and now its dissolution: but you are the cause of neither. Depart then serenely, for he who releases you is also serene.

This translation ofThe Meditations of Marcus Aurelius is that which was made from the Greek byGeorge LongIt has been revised and clarified bythe Classics Club EditorsOriginally published in 1945

You can find the unedited George Long translation atMIT's Internet Classics Archive

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