Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (e book free reading TXT) 📖
- Author: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
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The Best. But If Nothing Appears To Be Better Than The Deity Which Is
Planted In Thee, Which Has Subjected To Itself All Thy Appetites, And
Carefully Examines All The 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 Thou Findest Everything Else
Smaller And Of Less Value Than This, Give Place To Nothing Else, For If
Thou Dost Once Diverge And Incline To It, Thou Wilt No Longer Without
Distraction Be Able To Give The Preference To That Good Thing Which Is
Thy Proper Possession And Thy Own; For It Is Not Right That Anything Of
Any Other Kind, Such As Praise From The Many, Or Power, Or Enjoyment Of
Pleasure, Should Come Into Competition With That Which Is Rationally And
Politically [Or, Practically] Good. All These Things, Even Though They
May Seem To Adapt Themselves [To The Better Things] In A Small Degree,
Obtain The Superiority All At Once, And Carry Us Away. But Do Thou, I
Say, Simply And Freely Choose The Better, And Hold To It.--But That
Which Is Useful Is The Better.--Well, Then, If It Is Useful To Thee As A
Rational Being, Keep To It; But If It Is Only Useful To Thee As An
Animal, Say So, And Maintain Thy Judgment Without Arrogance: Only Take
Care That Thou Makest The Inquiry By A Sure Method.
7. Never Value Anything As Profitable To Thyself Which Shall Compel Thee
To Break Thy Promise, To Lose Thy Self-Respect, To Hate Any Man, To
Suspect, To Curse, To Act The Hypocrite, To Desire Anything Which Needs
Walls And Curtains: For He Who Has Preferred To Everything Else His Own
Intelligence And Daemon And The Worship Of Its Excellence, Acts No
Tragic Part, Does Not Groan, Will Not Need Either Solitude Or Much
Company; And, What Is Chief Of All, He Will Live Without Either Pursuing
Or Flying From [Death];[A] But Whether For A Longer Or A Shorter Time He
Shall Have The Soul Enclosed In The Body, He Cares Not At All: For Even
If He Must Depart Immediately, He Will Go As Readily As If He Were Going
To Do Anything Else Which Can Be Done With Decency And Order; Taking
Care Of This Only All Through Life, That His Thoughts Turn Not Away From
Anything Which Belongs To An Intelligent Animal And A Member Of A Civil
Community.
[A] Comp. Ix. 3.
8. In The Mind Of One Who Is Chastened And Purified Thou Wilt Find No
Corrupt Matter, Nor Impurity, Nor Any Sore Skinned Over. Nor Is His Life
Incomplete When Fate Overtakes Him, As One May Say Of An Actor Who
Leaves The Stage Before Ending And Finishing The Play. Besides, There Is
In Him Nothing Servile, Nor Affected, Nor Too Closely Bound [To Other
Things], Nor Yet Detached[A] [From Other Things], Nothing Worthy Of
Blame, Nothing Which Seeks A Hiding-Place.
[A] Viii. 34.
9. Reverence The Faculty Which Produces Opinion. On This Faculty It
Entirely Depends Whether There Shall Exist In Thy Ruling Part Any
Opinion Inconsistent With Nature And The Constitution Of The Rational
Story 3 (The Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antonius) Pg 49Animal. And This Faculty Promises Freedom From Hasty Judgment, And
Friendship Towards Men, And Obedience To The Gods.
10. Throwing Away Then All Things, Hold To These Only Which Are Few; And
Besides, Bear In Mind That Every Man Lives Only This Present Time, Which
Is An Indivisible Point, And That All The Rest Of His Life Is Either
Past Or It Is Uncertain. Short Then Is The Time Which Every Man Lives;
And Small The Nook Of The Earth Where He Lives; And Short Too The
Longest Posthumous Fame, And Even This Only Continued By A Succession Of
Poor Human Beings, Who Will Very Soon Die, And Who Know Not Even
Themselves, Much Less Him Who Died Long Ago.
11. To The Aids Which Have Been Mentioned Let This One Still Be Added:
Make For Thyself A Definition Or Description Of The Thing Which Is
Presented To Thee, So As To See Distinctly What Kind Of A Thing It Is In
Its Substance, In Its Nudity, In Its Complete Entirety, And Tell Thyself
Its Proper Name, And The Names Of The Things Of Which It Has Been
Compounded, And Into Which It Will Be Resolved. For Nothing Is So
Productive Of Elevation Of Mind As To Be Able To Examine Methodically
And Truly Every Object Which Is Presented To Thee In Life, And Always To
Look At Things So As To See At The Same Time What Kind Of Universe This
Is, And What Kind Of Use Everything Performs In It, And What Value
Everything Has With Reference To The Whole, And What With Reference To
Man, Who Is A Citizen Of The Highest City, Of Which All Other Cities Are
Like Families; What Each Thing Is, And Of What It Is Composed, And How
Long It Is The Nature Of This Thing To Endure Which Now Makes An
Impression On Me, And What Virtue I Have Need Of With Respect To It,
Such As Gentleness, Manliness, Truth, Fidelity, Simplicity, Contentment,
And The Rest. Wherefore, On Every Occasion A Man Should Say: This Comes
From God; And This Is According To The Apportionment + And Spinning Of
The Thread Of Destiny, And Such-Like Coincidence And Chance; And This Is
From One Of The Same Stock, And A Kinsman And Partner, One Who Knows
Not, However, What Is According To His Nature. But I Know; For This
Reason I Behave Towards Him According To The Natural Law Of Fellowship
With Benevolence And Justice. At The Same Time, However, In Things
Indifferent[A] I Attempt To Ascertain The Value Of Each.
[A] Est Et Horum Quae Media Appellamus Grande
Discrimen.--_Seneca_, Ep. 82.
12. If Thou Workest At That Which Is Before Thee, Following Right Reason
Seriously, Vigorously, Calmly, Without Allowing Anything Else To
Distract Thee, But Keeping Thy Divine Part Pure, As If Thou Shouldst Be
Bound To Give It Back Immediately; If Thou Holdest To This, Expecting
Nothing, Fearing Nothing, But Satisfied With Thy Present Activity
According To Nature, And With Heroic Truth In Every Word And Sound Which
Thou Utterest, Thou Wilt Live Happy. And There Is No Man Who Is Able To
Prevent This.
13. As Physicians Have Always Their Instruments And Knives Ready For
Cases Which Suddenly Require Their Skill, So Do Thou Have Principles
Ready For The Understanding Of Things Divine And Human, And For Doing
Everything, Even The Smallest, With A Recollection Of The Bond Which
Unites The Divine And Human To One Another. For Neither Wilt Thou Do
Anything Well Which Pertains To Man Without At The Same Time Having A
Reference To Things Divine; Nor The Contrary.
14. No Longer Wander At Hazard; For Neither Wilt Thou Read Thy Own
Memoirs,[A] Nor The Acts Of The Ancient Romans And Hellenes, And The
Selections From Books Which Thou Wast Reserving For Thy Old Age.[B]
Hasten Then To The End Which Thou Hast Before Thee, And, Throwing Away
Idle Hopes, Come To Thy Own Aid, If Thou Carest At All For Thyself,
While It Is In Thy Power.
[A] [Greek: Hypomnêmata]: Or Memoranda, Notes, And The Like.
See I. 17.
[B] Compare Fronto, Ii. 9; A Letter Of Marcus To Fronto, Who
Was Then Consul: "Feci Tamen Mihi Per Hos Dies Excerpta Ex
Libris Sexaginta In Quinque Tomis." But He Says Some Of Them
Were Small Books.
15. They Know Not How Many Things Are Signified By The Words Stealing,
Sowing, Buying, Keeping Quiet, Seeing What Ought To Be Done; For This Is
Not Effected By The Eyes, But By Another Kind Of Vision.
16. Body, Soul, Intelligence: To The Body Belong Sensation, To The Soul
Appetites, To The Intelligence Principles. To Receive The Impressions Of
Forms By Means Of Appearances Belongs Even To Animals; To Be Pulled By
The Strings[A] Of Desire Belongs Both To Wild Beasts And To Men Who Have
Made Themselves Into Women, And To A Phalaris And A Nero: And To Have
The Intelligence That Guides To The Things Which Appear Suitable Belongs
Also To Those Who Do Not Believe In The Gods, And Who Betray Their
Country, And Do Their Impure Deeds When They Have Shut The Doors. If
Then Everything Else Is Common To All That I Have Mentioned, There
Remains That Which 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, Nor
Disturb It By A Crowd Of Images, But To Preserve It Tranquil, Following
It Obediently As A God, Neither Saying Anything Contrary To The Truth,
Nor Doing Anything Contrary To Justice. And If All Men Refuse To Believe
That He Lives A Simple, Modest, And Contented Life, He Is Neither Angry
With Any Of Them, Nor Does He Deviate From The Way Which Leads To The
End Of Life, To Which A Man Ought To Come Pure, Tranquil, Ready To
Depart, And Without Any Compulsion Perfectly Reconciled To His Lot.
[A] Compare Plato, De Legibus, I. P. 644, [Greek: Oti Tauta Ta
Pathê] Etc.; And Antoninus, Ii. 2; Vii. 3; Xii. 19.
Story 3 (The Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antonius) Pg 50
Iv.
That Which Rules Within, When It Is According To Nature, Is So Affected
With Respect To The Events Which Happened, That It Always Easily Adapts
Itself To That Which Is Possible And Is Presented To It. For It Requires
No Definite Material, But It Moves Towards Its Purpose,[A] Under Certain
Conditions, However; And It Makes A Material For Itself Out Of That
Which Opposes It, As Fire Lays Hold Of What Falls Into It, By Which A
Small Light Would Have Been Extinguished; But When The Fire Is Strong,
It Soon Appropriates To Itself The Matter Which Is Heaped On It, And
Consumes It, And Rises Higher By Means Of This Very Material.
[A] [Greek: Pros Tha Hêgoumena] Literally "Towards That Which
Leads." The Exact Translation Is Doubtful. See Gataker's Note.
2. Let No Act Be Done Without A Purpose, Nor Otherwise Than According To
The Perfect Principles Of Art.
3. Men Seek Retreats For Themselves, Houses In The Country, Sea-Shores,
And Mountains; And Thou Too Art Wont To Desire Such Things Very Much.
But This Is Altogether A Mark Of The Most Common Sort Of Men, For It Is
In Thy Power Whenever Thou Shalt Choose To Retire Into Thyself. For
Nowhere Either 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 Immediately In Perfect
Tranquillity; And I Affirm That Tranquillity Is Nothing Else Than The
Good Ordering Of The Mind. Constantly Then Give To Thyself This Retreat,
And Renew Thyself; And Let Thy Principles Be Brief And Fundamental,
Which, As Soon As Thou Shalt Recur To Them, Will Be Sufficient To
Cleanse The Soul Completely, And To Send Thee Back Free From All
Discontent With The Things To Which Thou Returnest. For With
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