Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (top romance novels .txt) 📖
- Author: Marcus Aurelius
- Performer: 0140441409
Book online «Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (top romance novels .txt) 📖». Author Marcus Aurelius
11. If the things do not come to thee, the pursuits and avoidances of
which disturb thee, still in a manner thou goest to them. Let then thy
judgment about them be at rest, and they will remain quiet, and thou wilt
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 the truth that is in itself
(VIII. 41, 45; XII. 3).
13. Suppose any man shall despise me. Let him look to that himself. But I
will look to this, that I be not discovered doing or saying anything
deserving of contempt. Shall any man hate me? Let him look to it. But I
will be mild and benevolent towards every man, and ready to show even him
his mistake, not reproachfully, nor yet as making a display of my
endurance, but nobly and honestly, like the great Phocion, unless indeed
he only assumed it. For the interior [parts] ought to be such, and a man
ought to be seen by the gods neither dissatisfied with anything nor
complaining. For what evil is it to thee, if thou art now doing what is
agreeable to thy own nature, and art satisfied with that which at this
moment is suitable to the nature of the universe, since thou art a human
being placed at thy post in order that what is for the common advantage
may be done in some way?
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 thee in a fair way!—What art thou doing, man? There is no occasion
to give this notice. It will soon show itself by acts. The voice ought to
be plainly written on the forehead. Such as a man’s character is, he
immediately shows it in his eyes, just as he who is beloved forthwith
reads everything in the eyes of lovers. The man who is honest and good
ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander
as soon as he comes near him 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 [false 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 living in the best way, this power is in the soul, if it be
indifferent to 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 in ourselves, it being in our power not to write them, and it being
in our power, if perchance these judgments have imperceptibly got
admission to our minds, to wipe them out; and if we remember also that
such attention will only be for a short time, and then life will be at an
end. Besides, what trouble is there at all in doing this? For if these
things are according to nature, rejoice in them and they will be easy to
thee: but if contrary to nature, seek what is conformable to thy 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 is come, and of what it consists, and into
what it changes, and what kind of a thing it will be when it has changed,
and that it will sustain no harm.
18. [If any have offended against thee, consider first]: What is my
relation to men, and that we are made for one another; and in another
respect I was made to be set over them, as a ram over the flock or a bull
over the herd. But examine the matter from first principles, from this:
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. 1; IX. 39; V. 16; III. 4).
Second, consider what kind of men they are at table, in bed, and so
forth: and particularly, under what compulsions in respect of opinions
they are; 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, and in a word wrongdoers
to their neighbors (VII. 62, 63; II. 1; VII. 26; VIII. 29).
Fourth, consider that thou also dost many things wrong, and that thou art
a man like others; and even if thou dost abstain from certain faults,
still thou hast the disposition to commit them, though either through
cowardice, or concern about reputation, or some such mean motive, thou
dost abstain from such faults (I. 17).
Fifth, consider that thou dost not even understand whether men are doing
wrong or not, for many things are done with a certain reference to
circumstances. And 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 thou art much vexed or grieved, that man’s life is
only a moment, and after a short time we are all laid out dead (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
which disturb us. Take away these opinions then, and resolve to dismiss
thy judgment about an act as if it were something grievous, and thy anger
is gone. How then shall I take away these opinions? By reflecting that no
wrongful act of another brings shame on thee: for unless that which is
shameful is alone bad, thou also must of necessity do many things wrong,
and 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 a good disposition is invincible if it be genuine,
and not an affected smile and acting a part. For what will the most
violent man do to thee, if thou continuest to be of a kind disposition
towards him, and if, as opportunity offers, thou gently admonishest him
and calmly correctest his errors at the very time when he is trying to do
thee harm, saying, Not so, my child: we are constituted by nature for
something else: I shall certainly not be injured, but thou art injuring
thyself, my child.—And show him with gentle tact and by general
principles that this is so, and that even bees do not do as he does, nor
any animals which are formed by nature to be gregarious. And thou must do
this neither with any double meaning nor in the way of reproach, but
affectionately and without any rancor in thy soul; and not as if thou
wert lecturing him, nor yet that any bystander may admire, but either
when he is alone, and if others are present…. [Footnote: 6]
Remember these nine rules, as if thou hadst received them as a gift from
the Muses, and begin at last to be a man while thou livest. But thou 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 thee in the
excitement of anger, that to be moved by passion is not manly, but that
mildness and gentleness, as they are more agreeable to human nature, so
also are they more manly; 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, both are wounded and both submit.
But if thou wilt, receive also a tenth present from the leader of the
[Muses, Apollo], 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 so to others, and to expect them not to do thee any
wrong, is irrational and tyrannical.
19. There are four principal aberrations of the superior faculty against
which thou shouldst be constantly on thy guard, and when thou hast
detected them, thou shouldst wipe them out and say on each occasion thus:
This thought is not necessary: this tends to destroy social union: this
which thou art going to say comes not from the real thoughts; for thou
shouldst consider it among the most absurd of things for a man not to
speak from his real thoughts. But the fourth is when thou shalt reproach
thyself for anything, for this is an evidence of the diviner part within
thee being overpowered and yielding to the less honorable and to the
perishable part, the body, and to its gross pleasures (IV. 24; II. 16).
20. Thy aerial part and all the fiery parts which are mingled in thee,
though by nature they have an upward tendency, still in obedience to the
disposition of the universe they are overpowered here in the compound
mass [the body]. And also the whole of the earthy part in thee and the
watery, though their tendency is downward, still are raised up and occupy
a position which is not their natural one. In this manner then the
elemental parts obey the universal; for when they have been fixed in any
place, perforce they remain there until again the universal shall sound
the signal for dissolution. Is it not then strange that thy intelligent
part only should be disobedient and discontented with its own place? And
yet no force is imposed on it, but only those things which are
comformable to its nature: still it does not submit, but is carried in
the opposite direction. For the movement towards injustice and
intemperance and to anger and grief and fear is nothing else than the act
of one who deviates from nature. And also when the ruling faculty is
discontented with anything that happens, 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.
Comments (0)