Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (e book free reading TXT) 📖

Which Now Thou

Usest For Present Things.

 

9. All Things Are Implicated With One Another,  And The Bond Is Holy; And

There Is Hardly Anything Unconnected With Any Other Thing. For Things

Have Been Co-Ordinated,  And They Combine To Form The Same Universe

[Order]. For There Is One Universe Made Up Of All Things,  And One God

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Who Pervades All Things,  And One Substance,[A] And One Law,  [One] Common

Reason In All Intelligent Animals,  And One Truth; If Indeed There Is

Also One Perfection For All Animals Which Are Of The Same Stock And

Participate In The Reason.

 

    [A] "One Substance," P. 42,  Note 1.

 

10. Everything Material Soon Disappears In The Substance Of The Whole;

And Everything Formal [Causal] Is Very Soon Taken Back Into The

Universal Reason; And The Memory Of Everything Is Very Soon Overwhelmed

In Time.

 

11. To The Rational Animal The Same Act Is According To Nature And

According To Reason.

 

12. Be Thou Erect,  Or Be Made Erect (Iii. 5).

 

13. Just As It Is With The Members In Those Bodies Which Are United In

One,  So It Is With Rational Beings Which Exist Separate,  For They Have

Been Constituted For One Co-Operation. And The Perception Of This Will

Be More Apparent To Thee If Thou Often Sayest To Thyself That I Am A

Member [Greek: Melos] Of The System Of Rational Beings. But If [Using

The Letter _R_] Thou Sayest That Thou Art A Part [Greek: Meros],  Thou

Dost Not Yet Love Men From Thy Heart; Beneficence Does Not Yet Delight

Thee For Its Own Sake;[A] Thou Still Doest It Barely As A Thing Of

Propriety,  And Not Yet As Doing Good To Thyself.

 

    [A] I Have Used Gataker's Conjecture [Greek: Katalêktikôs]

    Instead Of The Common Reading [Greek: Katalêptikôs]: Compare

    Iv. 20; Ix. 42.

 

14. Let There Fall Externally What Will On The Parts Which Can Feel The

Effects Of This Fall. For Those Parts Which Have Felt Will Complain,  If

They Choose. But I,  Unless I Think That What Has Happened Is An Evil,  Am

Not Injured. And It Is In My Power Not To Think So.

 

15. Whatever Any One Does Or Says,  I Must Be Good; Just As If The Gold,

Or The Emerald,  Or The Purple,  Were Always Saying This. Whatever Any One

Does Or Says,  I Must Be Emerald And Keep My Color.

 

16. The Ruling Faculty Does Not Disturb Itself; I Mean,  Does Not

Frighten Itself Or Cause Itself Pain.+ But If Any One Else Can Frighten

Or Pain It,  Let Him Do So. For The Faculty Itself Will Not By Its Own

Opinion Turn Itself Into Such Ways. Let The Body Itself Take Care,  If It

Can,  That It Suffer Nothing,  And Let It Speak,  If It Suffers. But The

Soul Itself,  That Which Is Subject To Fear,  To Pain,  Which Has

Completely The Power Of Forming An Opinion About These Things,  Will

Suffer Nothing,  For It Will Never Deviate+ Into Such A Judgment. The

Leading Principle In Itself Wants Nothing,  Unless It Makes A Want For

Itself; And Therefore It Is Both Free From Perturbation And Unimpeded,

If It Does Not Disturb And Impede Itself.

 

17. Eudaemonia [Happiness] Is A Good Daemon,  Or A Good Thing. What Then

Art Thou Doing Here,  O Imagination? Go Away,  I Entreat Thee By The Gods,

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As Thou Didst Come,  For I Want Thee Not. But Thou Art Come According To

Thy Old Fashion. I Am Not Angry With Thee: Only Go Away.

 

18. Is Any Man Afraid Of Change? Why,  What Can Take Place Without

Change? What Then Is More Pleasing Or More Suitable To The Universal

Nature? And Canst Thou Take A Bath Unless The Wood Undergoes A Change?

And Canst Thou Be Nourished,  Unless The Food Undergoes A Change? And Can

Anything Else That Is Useful Be Accomplished Without Change? Dost Thou

Not See Then That For Thyself Also To Change Is Just The Same,  And

Equally Necessary For The Universal Nature?

 

19. Through The Universal Substance As Through A Furious Torrent All

Bodies Are Carried,  Being By Their Nature United With And Co-Operating

With The Whole,  As The Parts Of Our Body With One Another. How Many A

Chrysippus,  How Many A Socrates,  How Many An Epictetus Has Time Already

Swallowed Up! And Let The Same Thought Occur To Thee With Reference To

Every Man And Thing (V. 23; Vi. 15).

 

20. One Thing Only Troubles Me,  Lest I Should Do Something Which The

Constitution Of Man Does Not Allow,  Or In The Way Which It Does Not

Allow,  Or What It Does Not Allow Now.

 

21. Near Is Thy Forgetfulness Of All Things; And Near The Forgetfulness

Of Thee By All.

 

22. It Is Peculiar To Man To Love Even Those Who Do Wrong. And This

Happens,  If When They Do Wrong It Occurs To Thee That They Are Kinsmen,

And That They Do Wrong Through Ignorance And Unintentionally,  And That

Soon Both Of You Will Die; And Above All,  That The Wrong-Doer Has Done

Thee No Harm,  For He Has Not Made Thy Ruling Faculty Worse Than It Was

Before.

 

23. The Universal Nature Out Of The Universal Substance,  As If It Were

Wax,  Now Moulds A Horse,  And 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 Subsists For A Very Short Time. But It Is No Hardship

For The Vessel To Be Broken Up,  Just As There Was None In Its Being

Fastened Together (Viii. 50).

 

24. A Scowling Look Is Altogether Unnatural; When It Is Often

Assumed,[A] The Result Is That All Comeliness Dies Away,  And At Last Is

So Completely Extinguished That It Cannot Be Again Lighted Up At

All. Try To Conclude From This Very Fact That It Is Contrary To Reason.

For If Even The Perception Of Doing Wrong Shall Depart,  What Reason Is

There For Living Any Longer?

 

    [A] This Is Corrupt.

 

25. Nature Which Governs The Whole Will Soon Change All Things Thou

Seest,  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 Thee Any Wrong,  Immediately Consider With What

Opinion About Good Or Evil He Has Done Wrong. For When Thou Hast Seen

This,  Thou Wilt Pity Him,  And Wilt Neither Wonder Nor Be Angry. For

Either Thou Thyself Thinkest The Same Thing To Be Good That He Does,  Or

Another Thing Of The Same Kind. It Is Thy Duty Then To Pardon Him. But

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If Thou Dost Not Think Such Things To Be Good Or Evil,  Thou Wilt More

Readily Be Well Disposed To Him Who Is In Error.

 

27. Think Not So Much Of What Thou Hast Not As Of What Thou Hast: But Of

The Things Which Thou Hast Select The Best,  And Then Reflect How Eagerly

They Would Have Been Sought,  If Thou Hadst Them Not. At The Same Time,

However,  Take Care That Thou Dost Not Through Being So Pleased With Them

Accustom Thyself To Overvalue Them,  So As To Be Disturbed If Ever Thou

Shouldst Not Have Them.

 

28. Retire Into Thyself. The Rational Principle Which Rules Has This

Nature,  That It Is Content With Itself When It Does What Is Just,  And So

Secures Tranquillity.

 

29. Wipe Out The Imagination. Stop The Pulling Of The Strings. Confine

Thyself To The Present. Understand Well What Happens Either To Thee Or

To Another. Divide And Distribute Every Object Into The Causal [Formal]

And The Material. Think Of Thy Last Hour. Let The Wrong Which Is Done By

A Man Stay There Where The Wrong Was Done (Viii. 29).

 

30. Direct Thy Attention To What Is Said. Let Thy Understanding Enter

Into The Things That Are Doing And The Things Which Do Them (Vii. 4).

 

31. Adorn Thyself With Simplicity And Modesty,  And With Indifference

Towards The Things Which Lie Between Virtue And Vice. Love Mankind.

Follow God. The Poet Says That Law Rules All--+ And It Is Enough To

Remember That Law Rules All.+[A]

 

    [A] The End Of This Section Is Unintelligible.

 

32. About Death: Whether It Is A Dispersion,  Or A Resolution Into Atoms,

Or Annihilation,  It Is Either Extinction Or Change.

 

33. About Pain: The Pain Which Is Intolerable Carries Us Off; But That

Which Lasts A Long Time Is Tolerable; And The Mind Maintains Its Own

Tranquillity By Retiring Into Itself,  And The Ruling Faculty Is Not Made

Worse. But The Parts Which Are Harmed By Pain,  Let Them,  If They Can,

Give Their Opinion About It.

 

34. About 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 The Heaps Of Sand Piled On One Another

Hide The Former Sands; So In Life The Events Which Go Before Are Soon

Covered By Those Which Come After.

 

35. From Plato:[A] The Man Who Has An Elevated Mind And Takes A View Of

All Time And Of All Substance,  Dost Thou Suppose It Possible For Him To

Think That Human Life Is Anything Great? It Is Not Possible,  He

Said.--Such A Man Then Will Think That Death Also Is No Evil.--Certainly

Not.

 

36. From Antisthenes: It Is Royal To Do Good And To Be Abused.

 

37. It Is A Base Thing For The Countenance To Be Obedient And To

Regulate And Compose Itself As The Mind Commands,  And For The Mind Not

To Be Regulated And Composed By Itself.

 

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