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

To Rome. The Doctrines Of Zeno And His

Successors Were Well Suited To The Gravity And Practical Good Sense Of

The Romans; And Even In The Republican Period We Have An Example Of A

Man,  M. Cato Uticensis,  Who Lived The Life Of A Stoic And Died

Consistently With The Opinions Which He Professed. He Was A Man,  Says

Cicero,  Who Embraced The Stoic Philosophy From Conviction; Not For The

Purpose Of Vain Discussion,  As Most Did,  But In Order To Make His Life

Conformable To The Stoic Precepts. In The Wretched Times From The Death

Of Augustus To The Murder Of Domitian,  There Was Nothing But The Stoic

Philosophy Which Could Console And Support The Followers Of The Old

Religion Under Imperial Tyranny And Amidst Universal Corruption. There

Were Even Then Noble Minds That Could Dare And Endure,  Sustained By A

Good Conscience And An Elevated Idea Of The Purposes Of Man's Existence.

Such Were Paetus Thrasae,  Helvidius Priscus,  Cornutus,  C. Musonius

Rufus,[A] And The Poets Persius And Juvenal,  Whose Energetic Language

And Manly Thoughts May Be As Instructive To Us Now As They Might Have

Been To Their Contemporaries. Persius Died Under Nero's Bloody Reign;

But Juvenal Had The Good Fortune To Survive The Tyrant Domitian And To

See The Better Times Of Nerva,  Trajan,  And Hadrian.[B] His Best Precepts

Are Derived From The Stoic School,  And They Are Enforced In His Finest

Verses By The Unrivalled Vigor Of The Latin Language.

 

    [A] I Have Omitted Seneca,  Nero's Preceptor. He Was In A Sense

    A Stoic,  And He Has Said Many Good Things In A Very Fine Way.

    There Is A Judgment Of Gellius (Xii. 2.) On Seneca,  Or Rather A

    Statement Of What Some People Thought Of His Philosophy,  And It

    Is Not Favorable. His Writings And His Life Must Be Taken

    Together,  And I Have Nothing More To Say Of Him Here. The

    Reader Will Find A Notice Of Seneca And His Philosophy In

    "Seekers After God," By The Rev. P. W. Farrar. Macmillan And

    Co.

 

    [B] Ribbeck Has Labored To Prove That Those Satires,  Which

    Contain Philosophical Precepts,  Are Not The Work Of The Real,

    But Of A False Juvenal,  A Declamator. Still The Verses Exist,

    And Were Written By Somebody Who Was Acquainted With The Stoic

    Doctrines.

 

 

 

 

The Best Two Expounders Of The Later Stoical Philosophy Were A Greek

Slave And A Roman Emperor. Epictetus,  A Phrygian Greek,  Was Brought To

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Rome,  We Know Not How,  But He Was There The Slave And Afterwards The

Freedman Of An Unworthy Master,  Epaphroditus By Name,  Himself A Freedman

And A Favorite Of Nero. Epictetus May Have Been A Hearer Of C. Musonius

Rufus,  While He Was Still A Slave,  But He Could Hardly Have Been A

Teacher Before He Was Made Free. He Was One Of The Philosophers Whom

Domitian's Order Banished From Rome. He Retired To Nicopolis In Epirus,

And He May Have Died There. Like Other Great Teachers He Wrote Nothing,

And We Are Indebted To His Grateful Pupil Arrian For What We Have Of

Epictetus' Discourses. Arrian Wrote Eight Books Of The Discourses Of

Epictetus,  Of Which Only Four Remain And Some Fragments. We Have Also

From Arrian's Hand The Small Enchiridion Or Manual Of The Chief Precepts

Of Epictetus. This Is A Valuable Commentary On The Enchiridion By

Simplicius,  Who Lived In The Time Of The Emperor Justinian.[A]

 

    [A] There Is A Complete Edition Of Arrian's Epictetus With The

    Commentary Of Simplicius By J. Schweighaeuser,  6 Vols. 8vo.

    1799,  1800. There Is Also An English Translation Of Epictetus

    By Mrs. Carter.

 

Antoninus In His First Book (I. 7),  In Which He Gratefully Commemorates

His Obligations To His Teachers,  Says That He Was Made Acquainted By

Junius Rusticus With The Discourses Of Epictetus,  Whom He Mentions Also

In Other Passages (Iv. 41; Xi. 34,  36). Indeed,  The Doctrines Of

Epictetus And Antoninus Are The Same,  And Epictetus Is The Best

Authority For The Explanation Of The Philosophical Language Of Antoninus

And The Exposition Of His Opinions. But The Method Of The Two

Philosophers Is Entirely Different. Epictetus Addressed Himself To His

Hearers In A Continuous Discourse And In A Familiar And Simple Manner.

Antoninus Wrote Down His Reflections For His Own Use Only,  In Short,

Unconnected Paragraphs,  Which Are Often Obscure.

 

The Stoics Made Three Divisions Of Philosophy,--Physic ([Greek:

Phusikon]),  Ethic ([Greek: Êthikon]),  And Logic ([Greek: Logikon])

(Viii. 13). This Division,  We Are Told By Diogenes,  Was Made By Zeno Of

Citium,  The Founder Of The Stoic Sect,  And By Chrysippus; But These

Philosophers Placed The Three Divisions In The Following Order,--Logic,

Physic,  Ethic. It Appears,  However,  That This Division Was Made Before

Zeno's Time,  And Acknowledged By Plato,  As Cicero Remarks (Acad. Post.

I. 5). Logic Is Not Synonymous With Our Term Logic In The Narrower Sense

Of That Word.

 

Cleanthes,  A Stoic,  Subdivided The Three Divisions And Made

Six,--Dialectic And Rhetoric,  Comprised In Logic; Ethic And Politic;

Physic And Theology. This Division Was Merely For Practical Use,  For All

Philosophy Is One. Even Among The Earliest Stoics Logic,  Or Dialectic,

Does Not Occupy The Same Place As In Plato: It Is Considered Only As An

Instrument Which Is To Be Used For The Other Divisions Of Philosophy.

An Exposition Of The Earlier Stoic Doctrines And Of Their Modifications

Would Require A Volume. My Object Is To Explain Only The Opinions Of

Antoninus,  So Far As They Can Be Collected From His Book.

 

According To The Subdivision Of Cleanthes,  Physic And Theology Go

Together,  Or The Study Of The Nature Of Things,  And The Study Of The

Nature Of The Deity,  So Far As Man Can Understand The Deity,  And Of His

Government Of The Universe. This Division Or Subdivision Is Not Formally

Adopted By Antoninus,  For,  As Already Observed,  There Is No Method In

His Book; But It Is Virtually Contained In It.

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Cleanthes Also Connects Ethic And Politic,  Or The Study Of The

Principles Of Morals And The Study Of The Constitution Of Civil Society;

And Undoubtedly He Did Well In Subdividing Ethic Into Two Parts. Ethic

In The Narrower Sense And Politic; For Though The Two Are Intimately

Connected,  They Are Also Very Distinct,  And Many Questions Can Only Be

Properly Discussed By Carefully Observing The Distinction. Antoninus

Does Not Treat Of Politic. His Subject Is Ethic,  And Ethic In Its

Practical Application To His Own Conduct In Life As A Man And As A

Governor. His Ethic Is Founded On His Doctrines About Man's Nature,  The

Universal Nature,  And The Relation Of Every Man To Everything Else. It

Is Therefore Intimately And Inseparably Connected With Physic,  Or The

Nature Of Things,  And With Theology,  Or The Nature Of The Deity. He

Advises Us To Examine Well All The Impressions On Our Minds

([Greek: Phantasiai]) And To Form A Right Judgment Of Them,  To Make Just

Conclusions,  And To Inquire Into The Meanings Of Words,  And So Far To

Apply Dialectic; But He Has No Attempt At Any Exposition Of Dialectic,

And His Philosophy Is In Substance Purely Moral And Practical. He Says

(Viii. 13),  "Constantly And,  If It Be Possible,  On The Occasion Of Every

Impression On The Soul,[A] Apply To It The Principles Of Physic,  Of

Ethic,  And Of Dialectic:" Which Is Only Another Way Of Telling Us To

Examine The Impression In Every Possible Way. In Another Passage (Iii.

11) He Says,  "To The Aids Which Have Been Mentioned,  Let This One Still

Be Added: Make For Thyself A Definition Or Description Of The Object

([Greek: To Phantaston]) 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." Such An Examination Implies A Use Of Dialectic,  Which

Antoninus Accordingly Employed As A Means Toward Establishing His

Physical,  Theological,  And Ethical Principles.

 

    [A] The Original Is [Greek: Epi Pasês Phantasias]. We Have No Word

    Which Expresses [Greek: Phantasia],  For It Is Not Only The Sensuous

    Appearance Which Comes From An External Object,  Which Object Is

    Called [Greek: To Phantaston],  But It Is Also The Thought Or Feeling

    Or Opinion Which Is Produced Even When There Is No

    Corresponding External Object Before Us. Accordingly Everything

    Which Moves The Soul Is [Greek: Phantaston],  And Produces A

    [Greek: Phantasia].

 

    In This Extract Antoninus Says [Greek: Physiologein,  Pathologein,

    Dialektikeuesthai]. I Have Translated [Greek: Pathologein] By Using

    The Word Moral (Ethic),  And That Is The Meaning Here.

 

There Are Several Expositions Of The Physical,  Theological,  And Ethical

Principles,  Which Are Contained In The Work Of Antoninus; And More

Expositions Than I Have Read. Ritter (Geschichte Der Philosophie,  Iv.

241),  After Explaining The Doctrines Of Epictetus,  Treats Very Briefly

And Insufficiently Those Of Antoninus. But He Refers To A Short Essay,

In Which The Work Is Done Better.[A] There Is Also An Essay On The

Philosophical Principles Of M. Aurelius Antoninus By J.M. Schultz,

Placed At The End Of His German Translation Of Antoninus (Schleswig,

1799). With The Assistance Of These Two Useful Essays And His Own

Diligent Study,  A Man May Form A Sufficient Notion Of The Principles Of

Antoninus; But He Will Find It More Difficult To Expound Them To Others.

Besides The Want Of Arrangement In The Original And Of Connection Among

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The Numerous Paragraphs,  The Corruption Of The Text,  The Obscurity Of

The Language And The Style,  And Sometimes Perhaps The Confusion In The

Writer's Own Ideas--Besides All This,  There Is Occasionally An Apparent

Contradiction In The Emperor's Thoughts,  As If His Principles Were

Sometimes Unsettled,  As If Doubt Sometimes Clouded His Mind. A Man Who

Leads A Life Of Tranquillity And Reflection,  Who Is Not Disturbed At

Home And Meddles Not With The Affairs Of The World,  May Keep His Mind At

Ease And His Thoughts In One Even Course. But Such A Man Has Not Been

Tried. All His Ethical Philosophy And His Passive Virtue Might Turn Out

To Be Idle Words,  If He Were Once Exposed To The Rude Realities Of Human

Existence. Fine Thoughts And Moral Dissertations From Men Who Have Not

Worked And Suffered May Be Read,  But