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Title: Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Author: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Translator: George Long
Editor: George Long
Release Date: May 22, 2005 [EBook #15877]
Language: English
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THE THOUGHTS
OF
THE EMPEROR
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS
[Illustration: MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS]
CONTENTS.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 9
PHILOSOPHY OF MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS 45
THE THOUGHTS 99
INDEX OF TERMS 305
GENERAL INDEX 311
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS.
M. Antoninus was born at Rome, A.D. 121, on the 26th of April. His
father, Annius Verus, died while he was praetor. His mother was Domitia
Calvilla, also named Lucilla. The Emperor T. Antoninus Pius married
Annia Galeria Faustina, the sister of Annius Verus, and was consequently
the uncle of M. Antoninus. When Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius and
declared him his successor in the empire, Antoninus Pius adopted both L.
Ceionius Commodus, the son of Aelius Caesar, and M. Antoninus, whose
original name was M. Annius Verus. Antoninus then took the name of M.
Aelius Aurelius Verus, to which was added the title of Caesar in A.D.
139: the name Aelius belonged to Hadrian's family, and Aurelius was the
name of Antoninus Pius. When M. Antoninus became Augustus, he dropped
the name of Verus and took the name of Antoninus. Accordingly he is
generally named M. Aurelius Antoninus, or simply M. Antoninus.
The youth was most carefully brought up. He thanks the gods (i. 17) that
he had good grandfathers, good parents, a good sister, good teachers,
good associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly everything good. He
had the happy fortune to witness the example of his uncle and adoptive
father Antoninus Pius, and he has recorded in his word (i. 16; vi. 30)
the virtues of the excellent man and prudent ruler. Like many young
Romans he tried his hand at poetry and studied rhetoric. Herodes Atticus
and M. Cornelius Fronto were his teachers in eloquence. There are extant
letters between Fronto and Marcus,[A] which show the great affection of
the pupil for the master, and the master's great hopes of his
industrious pupil. M. Antoninus mentions Fronto (i. 11) among those to
whom he was indebted for his education.
[A] M. Cornelii Frontonis Reliquiae, Berlin, 1816. There are a
few letters between Fronto and Antoninus Pius.
When he was eleven years old, he assumed the dress of philosophers,
something plain and coarse, became a hard student, and lived a most
laborious, abstemious life, even so far as to injure his health.
Finally, he abandoned poetry and rhetoric for philosophy, and he
attached himself to the sect of the Stoics. But he did not neglect the
study of law, which was a useful preparation for the high place which he
was designed to fill. His teacher was L. Volusianus Maecianus, a
distinguished jurist. We must suppose that he learned the Roman
discipline of arms, which was a necessary part of the education of a man
who afterwards led his troops to battle against a warlike race.
Antoninus has recorded in his first book the names of his teachers, and
the obligations which he owed to each of them. The way in which he
speaks of what he learned from them might seem to savor of vanity or
self-praise, if we look carelessly at the way in which he has expressed
himself; but if any one draws this conclusion, he will be mistaken.
Antoninus means to commemorate the merits of his several teachers, what
they taught, and what a pupil might learn from them. Besides, this book,
like the eleven other books, was for his own use; and if we may trust
the note at the end of the first book, it was written during one of M.
Antoninus' campaigns against the Quadi, at a time when the commemoration
of the virtues of his illustrious teachers might remind him of their
lessons and the practical uses which he might derive from them.
Among his teachers of philosophy was Sextus of Chaeroneia, a grandson of
Plutarch. What he learned from this excellent man is told by himself (i.
9). His favorite teacher was Q. Junius Rusticus (i. 7), a philosopher,
and also a man of practical good sense in public affairs. Rusticus was
the adviser of Antoninus after he became emperor. Young men who are
destined for high places are not often fortunate in those who are about
them, their companions and teachers; and I do not know any example of a
young prince having had an education which can be compared with that of
M. Antoninus. Such a body of teachers distinguished by their
acquirements and their character will hardly be collected again; and as
to the pupil, we have not had one like him since.
Hadrian died in July A.D. 138, and was succeeded by Antoninus Pius. M.
Antoninus married Faustina, his cousin, the daughter of Pius, probably
about A.D. 146, for he had a daughter born in 147. He received from his
adoptive father the title of Caesar, and was associated with him in the
administration of the state. The father and the adopted son lived
together in perfect friendship and confidence. Antoninus was a dutiful
son, and the emperor Pius loved and esteemed him.
Antoninus Pius died in March, A.D. 161. The Senate, it is said, urged M.
Antoninus to take the sole administration of the empire, but he
associated with himself the other adopted son of Pius, L. Ceionius
Commodus, who is generally called L. Verus. Thus Rome for the first time
had two emperors. Verus was an indolent man of pleasure, and unworthy of
his station. Antoninus however bore with him, and it is said Verus had
sense enough to pay to his colleague the respect due to his character. A
virtuous emperor and a loose partner lived together in peace, and their
alliance was strengthened by Antoninus giving to Verus for wife his
daughter Lucilla.
The reign of Antoninus was first troubled by a Parthian war, in which
Verus was sent to command; but he did nothing, and the success that was
obtained by the Romans in Armenia and on the Euphrates and Tigris was
due to his generals. This Parthian war ended in A.D. 165. Aurelius and
Verus had a triumph (A.D. 166) for the victories in the East. A
pestilence followed, which carried off great numbers in Rome and Italy,
and spread to the west of Europe.
The north of Italy was also threatened by the rude people beyond the
Alps, from the borders of Gallia to the eastern side of the Hadriatic.
These barbarians attempted to break into Italy, as the Germanic nations
had attempted near three hundred years before; and the rest of the life
of Antoninus, with some intervals, was employed in driving back the
invaders. In 169 Verus suddenly died, and Antoninus administered the
state alone.
During the German wars Antoninus resided for three years on the Danube
at Carnuntum. The Marcomanni were driven out of Pannonia and almost
destroyed in their retreat across the Danube; and in A.D. 174 the
emperor gained a great victory over the Quadi.
In A.D. 175, Avidius Cassius, a brave and skilful Roman commander who
was at the head of the troops in Asia, revolted, and declared himself
Augustus. But Cassius was assassinated by some of his officers, and so
the rebellion came to an end. Antoninus showed his humanity by his
treatment of the family and the partisans of Cassius; and his letter to
the Senate, in which he recommends mercy, is extant. (Vulcatius, Avidius
Cassius, c. 12.)
Antoninus set out for the East on hearing of Cassius' revolt. Though he
appears to have returned to Rome in A.D. 174, he went back to prosecute
the war against the Germans, and it is probable that he marched direct
to the East from the German war. His wife Faustina, who accompanied him
into Asia, died suddenly at the foot of the Taurus, to the great grief
of her husband. Capitolinus, who has written the life of Antoninus, and
also Dion Cassius, accuses the empress of scandalous infidelity to her
husband, and of abominable lewdness. But Capitolinus says that Antoninus
either knew it not or pretended not to know it. Nothing is so common as
such malicious reports in all ages, and the history of imperial Rome is
full of them. Antoninus loved his wife, and he says that she was
"obedient, affectionate, and simple." The same scandal had been spread
about Faustina's mother, the wife of Antoninus Pius, and yet he too was
perfectly satisfied with his wife. Antoninus Pius says after her death,
in a letter to Fronto, that he would rather have lived in exile with his
wife than in his palace at Rome without her. There are not many men who
would give their wives a better character than these two emperors.
Capitolinus wrote in the time of Diocletian. He may have intended to
tell the truth, but he is a poor, feeble biographer. Dion Cassius, the
most malignant of historians, always reports, and perhaps he believed,
any scandal against anybody.
Antoninus continued his journey to Syria and Egypt, and on his return to
Italy through Athens he was initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. It
was the practice of the emperor to conform to the established rites of
the age, and to perform religious ceremonies with due solemnity. We
cannot conclude from this that he was a superstitious man, though we
might perhaps do so if his book did not show that he was not. But that
is only one among many instances that a ruler's public acts do not
always prove his real opinions. A prudent governor will not roughly
oppose even the superstitions of his people; and though he may wish they
were wiser, he will know that he cannot make them so by offending their
prejudices.
Antoninus and his son Commodus entered Rome in triumph, perhaps for some
German victories, on the 23d. of December, A.D. 176. In the following
year Commodus was associated with his father in the empire, and took
the name of Augustus. This year A.D. 177 is memorable in ecclesiastical
history. Attalus and others were put to death at Lyon for their
adherence to the Christian religion. The evidence of this persecution is
a letter preserved by Eusebius (E.H. V. I; printed in Routh's Reliquiae
Sacrae, vol. i, with notes). The letter is from the Christians of Vienna
and Lugdunum in Gallia (Vienna and Lyon) to their Christian brethren in
Asia and Phrygia; and it is preserved perhaps nearly entire. It contains
a very particular description of the tortures inflicted on the
Christians in Gallia, and it states that while the persecution was going
on, Attalus, a Christian and a Roman citizen, was loudly demanded by the
populace and brought into the amphitheatre; but the governor ordered him
to be reserved, with the rest who were in prison, until he had received
instructions from the emperor. Many had been tortured before the
governor thought of applying to Antoninus. The imperial rescript, says
the letter, was that the Christians should be punished, but if they
would deny their faith, they must be released. On this the work began
again. The Christians who were Roman citizens were beheaded; the rest
were exposed to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre. Some modern writers
on ecclesiastical history, when they use this letter, say nothing of the
wonderful stories of the martyrs' sufferings. Sanctus, as the letter
says, was burnt with plates of hot iron till his body was one sore and
had lost all human form; but on being put to the rack he recovered his
former appearance under the torture, which was thus a cure instead of a
punishment. He was afterwards torn by beasts, and placed on an iron
chair and roasted. He died at last.
The letter is one piece of evidence. The writer, whoever he was that
wrote in the name of the Gallic Christians, is our evidence both for the
ordinary and the extraordinary circumstances of the story, and we cannot
accept his evidence for one part and reject the other. We often receive
small evidence as a proof of a thing we believe to be within the limits
of probability or possibility, and we reject exactly the same evidence,
when the thing to which it refers appears very improbable or impossible.
But this is a false method of inquiry, though it is followed by some
modern writers, who select what they like from a story and reject the
rest of the evidence; or if they do not reject it, they dishonestly
suppress it. A man can only act consistently by accepting all this
letter or rejecting it all, and we cannot blame him for either. But he
who rejects it may still admit that such a letter may be founded on real
facts; and he would make this admission as the most probable way of
accounting for the existence of the letter; but if, as he would suppose,
the writer has stated some things falsely, he cannot tell what part of
his story is worthy of credit.
The war on the northern frontier appears to have been uninterrupted
during the visit of Antoninus to the East, and on his return the emperor
again left Rome to oppose the barbarians. The Germanic people were
defeated in a great battle A.D. 179. During this campaign the emperor
was seized with some contagious malady, of which he died in the camp at
Sirmium (Mitrovitz), on the Save, in Lower Pannonia, but at Vindebona
(Vienna), according to other authorities, on the 17th of March, A.D.
180, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. His son Commodus was with him.
The body, or the ashes probably, of the emperor were carried to Rome,
and he received the honor of deification. Those who could afford it had
his statue or bust; and when Capitolinus wrote, many people still had
statues of Antoninus among the Dei Penates or household deities. He was
in a manner made a saint. Commodus erected to the memory of his father
the Antonine column which is now in the Piazza Colonna at Rome. The
_bassi rilievi_ which are placed in a spiral line round the shaft
commemorate the victories of Antoninus over the Marcomanni and the
Quadi, and the miraculous shower of rain which refreshed the Roman
soldiers and discomfited their enemies. The statue of Antoninus was
placed on the capital of the column, but it was removed at some time
unknown, and a bronze statue of St. Paul was put in the place by Pope
Sixtus the fifth.
The historical evidence for the times of Antoninus is very defective,
and some of that which remains is not credible. The most curious is the
story about the miracle which happened in A.D. 174, during the war with
the Quadi. The Roman army was in danger of perishing by thirst, but a
sudden storm drenched them with rain, while it discharged fire and hail
on their enemies, and the Romans gained a great victory. All the
authorities which speak of the battle speak also of the miracle. The
Gentile writers assign it to their gods, and the Christians to the
intercession of the Christian legion in the emperor's army. To confirm
the Christian statement it is added that the emperor gave the title of
Thundering to this legion; but Dacier and others, who maintain the
Christian report of the miracle, admit that this title of Thundering or
Lightning was not given to this legion because the Quadi were struck
with lightning, but because there was a figure of lightning on their
shields, and that this title of the legion existed in the time of
Augustus.
Scaliger also had observed that the legion was called Thundering
([Greek: keraunobolos], or [Greek: keraunophoros]) before the reign of
Antoninus. We learn this from Dion Cassius (Lib. 55, c. 23, and the note
of Reimarus), who enumerates all the legions of Augustus' time. The name
Thundering of Lightning also occurs on an inscription of the reign of
Trajan, which was found at Trieste. Eusebius (v. 5), when he relates the
miracle, quotes Apolinarius, bishop of Hierapolis, as authority for this
name being given to the legion Melitene by the emperor in consequence of
the success which he obtained through their prayers; from which we may
estimate the value of Apolinarius' testimony. Eusebius does not say in
what book of Apolinarius the statement occurs. Dion says that the
Thundering legion was stationed in Cappadocia in the time of Augustus.
Valesius also observes that in the Notitia of the Imperium Romanum there
is mentioned under the commander of Armenia the Praefectura of the
twelfth legion named "Thundering Melitene;" and this position in Armenia
will agree with what Dion says of its position in Cappadocia.
Accordingly Valesius concludes that Melitene was not the name of the
legion, but of the town in which it was stationed. Melitene was also the
name of the district in which this town was situated. The legions did
not, he says, take their name from the place where they were on duty,
but from the country in which they were raised, and therefore what
Eusebius says about the Melitene does not seem probable to him. Yet
Valesius, on the authority of Apolinarius and Tertullian, believed that
the miracle was worked through the prayers of the Christian soldiers in
the emperor's army. Rufinus does not give the name of Melitene to this
legion, says Valesius, and probably he purposely omitted it, because he
knew that Melitene was the name of a town in Armenia Minor, where the
legion was stationed in his time.
The emperor, it is said, made a report of his victory to the Senate,
which we may believe, for such was the practice; but we do not know what
he said in his letter, for it is not extant. Dacier assumes that the
emperor's letter was purposely destroyed by the Senate or the enemies of
Christianity, that so honorable a testimony to the Christians and their
religion might not be perpetuated. The critic has however not seen that
he contradicts himself when he tells us the purport of the letter, for
he says that it was destroyed, and even Eusebius could not find it. But
there does exist a letter in Greek addressed by Antoninus to the Roman
people and the sacred Senate after this memorable victory. It is
sometimes printed after Justin's first Apology, but it is totally
unconnected with the apologies. This letter is one of the most stupid
forgeries of the many which exist, and it cannot be possibly founded
even on the genuine report of Antoninus to the Senate. If it were
genuine, it would free the emperor from the charge of persecuting men
because they were Christians, for he says in this false letter that if a
man accuse another only of being a Christian, and the accused confess,
and there is nothing else against him, he must be set free; with this
monstrous addition, made by a man inconceivably ignorant, that the
informer must be burnt alive.[A]
[A] Eusebius (v. 5) quotes Tertullian's Apology to the Roman
Senate in confirmation of the story. Tertullian, he says,
writes that letters of the emperor were extant, in which he
declares that his army was saved by the prayers of the
Christians; and that he "threatened to punish with death those
who ventured to accuse us." It is possible that the forged
letter which is now extant may be one of those which Tertullian
had seen, for he uses the plural number, "letters." A great
deal has been written about this miracle of the Thundering
Legion, and more than is worth reading. There is a dissertation
on this supposed miracle in Moyle's Works, London, 1726.
During the time of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Antoninus there appeared
the first Apology of Justinus, and under M. Antoninus the Oration of
Tatian against the Greeks, which was a fierce attack on the established
religions; the address of Athenagoras to M. Antoninus on behalf of the
Christians, and the Apology of Melito, bishop of Sardes, also addressed
to the emperor, and that of Apolinarius. The first Apology of Justinus
is addressed to T. Antoninus Pius and his two adopted sons, M. Antoninus
and L. Verus; but we do not know whether they read it.[A] The second
Apology of Justinus is entitled "to the Roman Senate;" but this
superscription is from some copyist. In the first chapter Justinus
addresses the Romans. In the second chapter he speaks of an affair that
had recently happened in the time of M. Antoninus and L,. Verus, as it
seems; and he also directly addresses the emperor, saying of a certain
woman, "she addressed a petition to thee, the emperor, and thou didst
grant the petition." In other passages the writer addresses the two
emperors, from which we must conclude that the Apology was directed to
them. Eusebius (E.H. iv. 18) states that the second Apology was
addressed to the successor of Antoninus Pius, and he names him Antoninus
Verus, meaning M. Antoninus. In one passage of this second Apology (c.
8), Justinus, or the writer, whoever he may be, says that even men who
followed the Stoic doctrines, when they ordered their lives according to
ethical reason, were hated and murdered, such as Heraclitus, Musonius in
his own times, and others; for all those who in any way labored to live
according to reason and avoided wickedness were always hated; and this
was the effect of the work of daemons.
[A] Orosius, vii. 14, says that Justinus the philosopher
presented to Antonius Pius his work in defence of the Christian
religion, and made him merciful to the Christians.
Justinus himself is said to have been put to death at Rome, because he
refused to sacrifice to the gods. It cannot have been in the reign of
Hadrian, as one authority states; nor in the time of Antoninus Pius, if
the second Apology was written in the time of M. Antoninus; and there is
evidence that this event took place under M. Antoninus and L. Verus,
when Rusticus was praefect of the city.[A]
[A] See the Martyrium Sanctorum Justini, &c., in the works of
Justinus, ed. Otto, vol. ii. 559. "Junius Rusticus Praefectus
Urbi erat sub imperatoribus M. Aurelio et L. Vero, id quod
liquet ex Themistii Orat. xxxiv Dindorf. p. 451, et ex quodam
illorum rescripto, Dig. 49. 1. I, § 2" (Otto). The rescript
contains the words "Junium Rusticum amicum nostrum Praefectum
Urbi." The Martyrium of Justinus and others is written in
Greek. It begins, "In the time of the wicked defenders of
idolatry impious edicts were published against the pious
Christians both in cities and country places, for the purpose
of compelling them to make offerings to vain idols. Accordingly
the holy men (Justinus, Chariton, a woman Charito, Paeon,
Liberianus, and others) were brought before Rusticus, the
praefect of Rome."
The Martyrium gives the examination of the accused by Rusticus.
All of them professed to be Christians. Justinus was asked if
he expected to ascend into heaven and to receive a reward for
his sufferings, if he was condemned to death. He answered that
he did not expect: he was certain of it. Finally, the test of
obedience was proposed to the prisoners; they were required to
sacrifice to the gods. All refused, and Rusticus pronounced the
sentence, which was that those who refused to sacrifice to the
gods and obey the emperor's order should be whipped and
beheaded according to the law. The martyrs were then led to the
usual place of execution and beheaded. Some of the faithful
secretly carried off the bodies and deposited them in a fit
place.
The persecution in which Polycarp suffered at Smyrna belongs to the time
of M. Antoninus. The evidence for it is the letter of the church of
Smyrna to the churches of Philomelium and the other Christian churches,
and it is preserved by Eusebius (E.H. iv. 15). But the critics do not
agree about the time of Polycarp's death, differing in the two extremes
to the amount of twelve years. The circumstances of Polycarp's martyrdom
were accompanied by miracles, one of which Eusebius (iv. 15) has
omitted, but it appears in the oldest Latin version of the letter, which
Usher published, and it is supposed that this version was made not long
after the time of Eusebius. The notice at the end of the letter states
that it was transcribed by Caius from the copy of Irenaeus, the disciple
of Polycarp, then transcribed by Socrates at Corinth; "after which I
Pionius again wrote it out from the copy above mentioned, having
searched it out by the revelation of Polycarp, who directed me to it,"
&c. The story of Polycarp's martyrdom is embellished with miraculous
circumstances which some modern writers on ecclesiastical history take
the liberty of omitting.[A]
[A] Conyers Middleton, An Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers,
&c. p. 126. Middleton says that Eusebius omitted to mention the
dove, which flew out of Polycarp's body, and Dodwell and
Archbishop Wake have done the same. Wake says, "I am so little
a friend to such miracles that I thought it better with
Eusebius to omit that circumstance than to mention it from Bp.
Usher's Manuscript," which manuscript however, says Middleton,
he afterwards declares to be so well attested that we need not
any further assurance of the truth of it.
In order to form a proper notion of the condition of the Christians
under M. Antoninus we must go back to Trajan's time. When the younger
Pliny was governor of Bithynia, the Christians were numerous in those
parts, and the worshipers of the old religion were falling off. The
temples were deserted, the festivals neglected, and there were no
purchasers of victims for sacrifice. Those who were interested in the
maintenance of the old religion thus found that their profits were in
danger. Christians of both sexes and all ages were brought before the
governor who did not know what to do with them. He could come to no
other conclusion than this, that those who confessed to be Christians
and persevered in their religion ought to be punished; if for nothing
else, for their invincible obstinancy. He found no crimes proved against
the Christians, and he could only characterize their religion as a
depraved and extravagant superstition, which might be stopped if the
people were allowed the opportunity of recanting. Pliny wrote this in a
letter to Trajan (Plinius, Ep. x. 97). He asked for the emperor's
directions, because he did not know what to do. He remarks that he had
never been engaged in judicial inquiries about the Christians, and that
accordingly he did not know what to inquire about, or how far to inquire
and punish. This proves that it was not a new thing to examine into a
man's profession of Christianity and to punish him for it.[A]
[A] Orosius (vii. 12) speaks of Trajan's persecution of the
Christians, and of Pliny's application to him having led the
emperor to mitigate his severity. The punishment by the Mosaic
law for those who attempted to seduce the Jews to follow new
gods was death. If a man was secretly enticed to such new
worship, he must kill the seducer, even if the seducer were
brother, son, daughter, wife, or friend. (Deut. xiii.)
Trajan's rescript is extant. He approved of the governor's judgment in
the matter, but he said that no search must be made after the
Christians; if a man was charged with the new religion and convicted, he
must not be punished if he affirmed that he was not a Christian, and
confirmed his denial by showing his reverence to the heathen gods. He
added that no notice must be taken of anonymous informations, for such
things were of bad example. Trajan was a mild and sensible man; and both
motives of mercy and policy probably also induced him to take as little
notice of the Christians as he could, to let them live in quiet if it
were possible. Trajan's rescript is the first legislative act of the
head of the Roman state with reference to Christianity, which is known
to us. It does not appear that the Christians were further disturbed
under his reign. The martyrdom of Ignatius by the order of Trajan
himself is not universally admitted to be an historical fact.[A]
[A] The Martyrium Ignatii, first published in Latin by
Archbishop Usher, is the chief evidence for the circumstances
of Ignatius' death.
In the time of Hadrian it was no longer possible for the Roman
government to overlook the great increase of the Christians and the
hostility of the common sort to them. If the governors in the provinces
were willing to let them alone, they could not resist the fanaticism of
the heathen community, who looked on the Christians as atheists. The
Jews too, who were settled all over the Roman Empire, were as hostile to
the Christians as the Gentiles were.[A] With the time of Hadrian begin
the Christian Apologies, which show plainly what the popular feeling
towards the Christians then was. A rescript of Hadrian to Minucius
Fundanus, the Proconsul of Asia, which stands at the end of Justin's
first Apology,[B] instructs the governor that innocent people must not
be troubled, and false accusers must not be allowed to extort money from
them; the charges against the Christians must be made in due form, and
no attention must be paid to popular clamors; when Christians were
regularly prosecuted and convicted of illegal acts, they must be
punished according to their deserts; and false accusers also must be
punished. Antoninus Pius is said to have published rescripts to the same
effect. The terms of Hadrian's rescript seem very favorable to the
Christians; but if we understand it in this sense, that they were only
to be punished like other people for illegal acts, it would have had no
meaning, for that could have been done without asking the emperor's
advice. The real purpose of the rescript is that Christians must be
punished if they persisted in their belief, and would not prove their
renunciation of it by acknowledging the heathen religion. This was
Trajan's rule, and we have no reason for supposing that Hadrian granted
more to the Christians than Trajan did. There is also printed at the end
of Justin's first Apology a rescript of Antoninus Pius to the Commune of
([Greek: to koinon tês Asias]), and it is also in Eusebius (E.H. iv.
13). The date of the rescript is the third consulship of Antoninus
Pius.[C] The rescript declares that the Christians--for they are meant,
though the name Christians does not occur in the rescript--were not to
be disturbed unless they were attempting something against the Roman
rule; and no man was to be punished simply for being a Christian. But
this rescript is spurious. Any man moderately acquainted with Roman
history will see by the style and tenor that it is a clumsy forgery.
[A] We have the evidence of Justinus (ad Diognetum, c. 5) to
this effect: "The Christians are attacked by the Jews as if
they were men of a different race, and are persecuted by the
Greeks; and those who hate them cannot give the reason of their
enmity."
[B] And in Eusebius (E.H. iv. 8, 9). Orosius (vii. 13) says
that Hadrian sent this rescript to Minucius Fundanus, proconsul
of Asia after being instructed in books written on the
Christian religion by Quadratus, a disciple of the Apostles,
and Aristides, an Athenian, an honest and wise man, and Serenus
Granius. In the Greek text of Hadrian's rescript there
is mentioned Serenius Granianus, the predecessor of Minucius
Fundanus in the government of _Asia_.
This rescript of Hadrian has clearly been added to the Apology
by some editor. The Apology ends with the words: [Greek: ho
philon tô Oeô, touto genesthô]
[C] Eusebius (E.H. iv. 12), after giving the beginning of
Justinus' first Apology, which contains the address to T.
Antoninus and his two adopted sons, adds: "The same emperor
being addressed by other brethren in Asia, honored the Commune
of Asia with the following rescript." This rescript, which is
in the next chapter of Eusebius (E.H. iv. 13) is in the sole
name of Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus Armenius,
though Eusebius had just before said that he was going to give
us a rescript of Antoninus Pius. There are some material
variations between the two copies of the rescript besides the
difference in the title, which difference makes it impossible
to say whether the forger intended to assign this rescript to
Pius or to M. Antoninus.
The author of the Alexandrine Chronicum says that Marcus, being
moved by the entreaties of Melito and other heads of the
church, wrote an Epistle to the Commune of Asia in which he
forbade the Christians to be troubled on account of their
religion. Valesius supposes this to be the letter or rescript
which is contained in Eusebius (iv. 13), and to be the answer
to the Apology of Melito, of which I shall soon give the
substance. But Marcus certainly did not write this letter which
is in Eusebius, and we know not what answer he made to Melito.
In the time of M. Antoninus the opposition between the old and the new
belief was still stronger, and the adherents of the heathen religion
urged those in authority to a more regular resistance to the invasions
of the Christian faith. Melito in his Apology to M. Antoninus represents
the Christians of Asia as persecuted under new imperial orders.
Shameless informers, he says, men who were greedy after the property of
others, used these orders as a means of robbing those who were doing no
harm. He doubts if a just emperor could have ordered anything so unjust;
and if the last order was really not from the emperor, the Christians
entreat him not to give them up to their enemies.[A] We conclude from
this that there were at least imperial rescripts or constitutions of M.
Antoninus which were made the foundation of these persecutions. The fact
of being a Christian was now a crime and punished, unless the accused
denied their religion. Then come the persecutions at Smyrna, which some
modern critics place in A.D. 167, ten years before the persecution of
Lyon. The governors of the provinces under M. Antoninus might have found
enough even in Trajan's rescript to warrant them in punishing
Christians, and the fanaticism of the people would drive them to
persecution, even if they were unwilling. But besides the fact of the
Christians rejecting all the heathen ceremonies, we must not forget that
they plainly maintain that all the heathen religions were false. The
Christians thus declared war against the heathen rites, and it is hardly
necessary to observe that this was a declaration of hostility against
the Roman government, which tolerated all the various forms of
superstition that existed in the empire, and could not consistently
tolerate another religion, which declared that all the rest were false
and all the splendid ceremonies of the empire only a worship of devils.
[A] Eusebius, iv. 26; and Routh's Reliquiae Sacrae, vol. I, and
the notes. The interpretation of this Fragment is not easy.
Mosheim misunderstood one passage so far as to affirm that
Marcus promised rewards to those who denounced the Christians;
an interpretation which is entirely false. Melito calls the
Christian religion "our philosophy," which began among
barbarians (the Jews), and flourished among the Roman subjects
in the time of Augustus, to the great advantage of the empire,
for from that time the power of the Romans grew great and
glorious. He says that the emperor has and will have as the
successor to Augustus' power the good wishes of men, if he will
protect that philosophy which grew up with the empire and began
with Augustus, which philosophy the predecessors of Antoninus
honored in addition to the other religions. He further says
that the Christian religion had suffered no harm since the time
of Augustus, but on the contrary had enjoyed all honor and
respect that any man could desire. Nero and Domitian, he says,
were alone persuaded by some malicious men to calumniate the
Christian religion, and this was the origin of the false
charges against the Christians. But this was corrected by the
emperors who immediately preceded Antoninus, who often by their
rescripts reproved those who attempted to trouble the
Christians. Hadrian, Antoninus' grandfather, wrote to many, and
among them to Fundanus, the governor of Asia. Antoninus Pius,
when Marcus was associated with him in the empire, wrote to the
cities that they must not trouble the Christians; among others,
to the people of Larissa, Thessalonica, the Athenians, and all
the Greeks. Melito concluded thus: "We are persuaded that thou
who hast about these things the same mind that they had, nay
rather one much more humane and philosophical, wilt do all that
we ask thee."--This Apology was written after A.D. 169, the
year in which Verus died, for it speaks of Marcus only and his
son Commodus. According to Melito's testimony, Christians had
only been punished for their religion in the time of Nero and
Domitian, and the persecutions began again in the time of M.
Antoninus, and were founded on his orders, which were abused,
as he seems to mean. He distinctly affirms "that the race of
the godly is now persecuted and harassed by fresh imperial
orders in Asia, a thing which had never happened before." But
we know that all this is not true, and that Christians had been
punished in Trajan's time.
If we had a true ecclesiastical history, we should know how the Roman
emperors attempted to check the new religion; how they enforced their
principle of finally punishing Christians, simply as Christians, which
Justin in his Apology affirms that they did, and I have no doubt that he
tells the truth; how far popular clamor and riots went in this matter,
and how far many fanatical and ignorant Christians--for there were many
such--contributed to excite the fanaticism on the other side and to
embitter the quarrel between the Roman government and the new religion.
Our extant ecclesiastical histories are manifestly falsified, and what
truth they contain is grossly exaggerated; but the fact is certain that
in the time of M. Antoninus the heathen populations were in open
hostility to the Christians, and that under Antoninus' rule men were put
to death because they were Christians. Eusebius, in the preface to his
fifth book, remarks that in the seventeenth year of Antoninus' reign, in
some parts of the world, the persecution of the Christians became more
violent, and that it proceeded from the populace in the cities; and he
adds, in his usual style of exaggeration, that we may infer from what
took place in a single nation that myriads of martyrs were made in the
habitable earth. The nation which he alludes to is Gallia; and he then
proceeds to give the letter of the churches of Vienna and Lugdunum. It
is probable that he has assiged the true cause of the persecutions, the
fanaticism of the populace, and that both governors and emperor had a
great deal of trouble with these disturbances. How far Marcus was
cognizant of these cruel proceedings we do not know, for the historical
records of his reign are very defective. He did not make the rule
against the Christians, for Trajan did that; and if we admit that he
would have been willing to let the Christians alone, we cannot affirm
that it was in his power, for it would be a great mistake to suppose
that Antoninus had the unlimited authority which some modern sovereigns
have had. His power was limited by certain constitutional forms, by the
Senate, and by the precedents of his predecessors. We cannot admit that
such a man was an active persecutor, for there is no evidence that he
was,[A] though it is certain that he had no good opinion of the
Christians, as appears from his own words.[B] But he knew nothing of
them except their hostility to the Roman religion, and he probably
thought that they were dangerous to the state, notwithstanding the
professions, false or true, of some of the Apologists. So much I have
said, because it would be unfair not to state all that can be urged
against a man whom his contemporaries and subsequent ages venerated as a
model of virtue and benevolence. If I admitted the genuineness of some
documents, he would be altogether clear from the charge of even allowing
any persecutions; but as I seek the truth and am sure that they are
false, I leave him to bear whatever blame is his due.[C] I add that it
is quite certain that Antoninus did not derive any of his ethical
principles from a religion of which he knew nothing.[D]
[A] Except that of Orosius (vii. 15), who says that during the
Parthian war there were grievous persecutions of the Christians
in Asia and Gallia under the orders of Marcus (praecepto ejus),
and "many were crowned with the martyrdom of saints."
[B] See xi. 3. The emperor probably speaks of such fanatics as
Clemens (quoted by Gataker on this passage) mentions. The
rational Christians admitted no fellowship with them. "Some of
these heretics," says Clemens, "show their impiety and
cowardice by loving their lives, saying that the knowledge of
the really existing God is true testimony (martyrdom), but that
a man is a self-murderer who bears witness by his death. We
also blame those who rush to death; for there are some, not of
us, but only bearing the same name, who give themselves up. We
say of them that they die without being martyrs, even if they
are publicly punished; and they give themselves up to a death
which avails nothing, as the Indian Gymnosophists give
themselves up foolishly to fire." Cave, in his primitive
Christianity (ii. c. 7), says of the Christians: "They did
flock to the place of torment faster than droves of beasts that
are driven to the shambles. They even longed to be in the arms
of suffering. Ignatius, though then in his journey to Rome in
order to his execution, yet by the way as he went could not but
vent his passionate desire of it 'Oh that I might come to those
wild beasts that are prepared for me; I heartily wish that I
may presently meet with them; I would invite and encourage them
speedily to devour me, and not be afraid to set upon me as they
have been to others; nay, should they refuse it, I would even
force them to it;'" and more to the same purpose from Eusebius.
Cave, an honest and good man, says all this in praise of the
Christians; but I think that he mistook the matter. We admire a
man who holds to his principles even to death; but these
fanatical Christians are the Gymnosophists whom Clemens treats
with disdain.
[C] Dr. F.C. Baur, in his work entitled "Das Christenthum und
die Christliche Kirche der drei ersten Jahrhunderte," &c., has
examined this question with great good sense and fairness, and
I believe he has stated the truth as near as our authorities
enable us to reach it.
[D] In the Digest, 48, 19, 30, there is the following excerpt
from Modestinus: "Si quis aliquid fecerit, quo leves hominum
animi superstitione numinis terrerentur, divus Marcus hujusmodi
homines in insulam relegari rescripsit."
There is no doubt that the Emperor's Reflections--or his Meditations, as
they are generally named--is a genuine work. In the first book he speaks
of himself, his family, and his teachers; and in other books he mentions
himself. Suidas (v.[Greek: Markos]) notices a work of Antoninus in
twelve books, which he names the "conduct of his own life;" and he cites
the book under several words in his Dictionary, giving the emperor's
name, but not the title of the work. There are also passages cited by
Suidas from Antoninus without mention of the emperor's name. The true
title of the work is unknown. Xylander, who published the first edition
of this book (Zürich, 1558, 8vo, with a Latin version), used a
manuscript which contained the twelve books, but it is not known where
the manuscript is now. The only other complete manuscript which is known
to exist is in the Vatican library, but it has no title and no
inscriptions of the several books: the eleventh only has the
inscription, [Greek: Markou autokratoros] marked with an asterisk. The
other Vatican manuscripts and the three Florentine contain only excerpts
from the emperor's book. All the titles of the excerpts nearly agree
with that which Xylander prefixed to his edition, [Greek: Markou
Antôninou Autokratoros tôn eis heauton biblia ib.] This title has been
used by all subsequent editors. We cannot tell whether Antoninus divided
his work into books or somebody else did it. If the inscriptions at the
end of the first and second books are genuine, he may have made the
division himself.
It is plain that the emperor wrote down his thoughts or reflections as
the occasions arose; and since they were intended for his own use, it is
no improbable conjecture that he left a complete copy behind him written
with his own hand; for it is not likely that so diligent a man would use
the labor of a transcriber for such a purpose, and expose his most
secret thoughts to any other eye. He may have also intended the book for
his son Commodus, who however had no taste for his father's philosophy.
Some careful hand preserved the precious volume; and a work by Antoninus
is mentioned by other late writers besides Suidas.
Many critics have labored on the text of Antoninus. The most complete
edition is that by Thomas Gataker, 1652, 4to. The second edition of
Gataker was superintended by George Stanhope, 1697, 4to. There is also
an edition of 1704. Gataker made and suggested many good corrections,
and he also made a new Latin version, which is not a very good specimen
of Latin, but it generally expresses the sense of the original, and
often better than some of the more recent translations. He added in the
margin opposite to each paragraph references to the other parallel
passages; and he wrote a commentary, one of the most complete that has
been written on any ancient author. This commentary contains the
editor's exposition of the more difficult passages, and quotations from
all the Greek and Roman writers for the illustration of the text. It is
a wonderful monument of learning and labor, and certainly no Englishman
has yet done anything like it. At the end of his preface the editor says
that he wrote it at Rotherhithe near London, in a severe winter, when he
was in the seventy-eighth year of his age, 1651--a time when Milton,
Selden, and other great men of the Commonwealth time were living; and
the great French scholar Saumaise (Salmasius), with whom Gataker
corresponded and received help from him for his edition of Antoninus.
The Greek test has also been edited by J. M. Schultz, Leipzig, 1802,
8vo; and by the learned Greek Adamantinus Corais, Paris, 1816, 8vo. The
text of Schultz was republished by Tauchnitz, 1821.
There are English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish translations of
M. Antoninus, and there may be others. I have not seen all the English
translations. There is one by Jeremy Collier, 1702, 8vo, a most coarse
and vulgar copy of the original. The latest French translation by
Alexis Pierron in the collection of Charpentier is better than Dacier's,
which has been honored with an Italian version (Udine, 1772). There is
an Italian version (1675), which I have not seen. It is by a cardinal.
"A man illustrious in the church, the Cardinal Francis Barberini the
elder, nephew of Pope Urban VIII., occupied the last years of his life
in translating into his native language the thoughts of the Roman
emperor, in order to diffuse among the faithful the fertilizing and
vivifying seeds. He dedicated this translation to his soul, to make it,
as he says in his energetic style, redder than his purple at the sight
of the virtues of this Gentile" (Pierron, Preface).
I have made this translation at intervals after having used the book for
many years. It is made from the Greek, but I have not always followed
one text; and I have occasionally compared other versions with my own. I
made this translation for my own use, because I found that it was worth
the labor; but it may be useful to others also; and therefore I
determined to print it. As the original is sometimes very difficult to
understand and still more difficult to translate, it is not possible
that I have always avoided error. But I believe that I have not often
missed the meaning, and those who will take the trouble to compare the
translation with the original should not hastily conclude that I am
wrong, if they do not agree with me. Some passages do give the meaning,
though at first sight they may not appear to do so; and when I differ
from the translators, I think that in some places they are wrong, and in
other places I am sure that they are. I have placed in some passages a
+, which indicates corruption in the text or great uncertainty in the
meaning. I could have made the language more easy and flowing, but I
have preferred a ruder style as being better suited to express the
character of the original; and sometimes the obscurity which may appear
in the version is a fair copy of the obscurity of the Greek. If I should
ever revise this version, I would gladly make use of any corrections
which may be suggested. I have added an index of some of the Greek terms
with the corresponding English. If I have not given the best words for
the Greek, I have done the best that I could; and in the text I have
always given the same translation of the same word.
The last reflection of the Stoic philosophy that I have observed is in
Simplicius' Commentary on the Enchiridion of Epictetus. Simplicius was
not a Christian, and such a man was not likely to be converted at a time
when Christianity was grossly corrupted. But he was a really religious
man, and he concludes his commentary with a prayer to the Deity which no
Christian could improve. From the time of Zeno to Simplicius, a period
of about nine hundred years, the Stoic philosophy formed the characters
of some of the best and greatest men. Finally it became extinct, and we
hear no more of it till the revival of letters in Italy. Angelo
Poliziano met with two very inaccurate and incomplete manuscripts of
Epictetus' Enchiridion, which he translated into Latin and dedicated to
his great patron Lorenzo de' Medici, in whose collection he had found
the book. Poliziano's version was printed in the first Bâle edition of
the Enchiridion, A.D. 1531 (apud And. Cratandrum). Poliziano recommends
the Enchiridion to Lorenzo as a work well suited to his temper, and
useful in the difficulties by which he was surrounded.
Epictetus and Antoninus have had readers ever since they were first
printed. The little book of Antoninus has been the companion of some
great men. Machiavelli's Art of War and Marcus Antoninus were the two
books which were used when he was a young man by Captain John Smith, and
he could not have found two writers better fitted to form the character
of a soldier and a man. Smith is almost unknown and forgotten in
England, his native country, but not in America, where he saved the
young colony of Virginia. He was great in his heroic mind and his deeds
in arms, but greater still in the nobleness of his character. For a
man's greatness lies not in wealth and station, as the vulgar believe,
nor yet in his intellectual capacity, which is often associated with
the meanest moral character, the most abject servility to those in high
places, and arrogance to the poor and lowly; but a man's true greatness
lies in the consciousness of an honest purpose in life, founded on a
just estimate of himself and everything else, on frequent
self-examination, and a steady obedience to the rule which he knows to
be right, without troubling himself, as the emperor says he should not,
about what others may think or say, or whether they do or do not do that
which he thinks and says and does.
THE PHILOSOPHY
OF
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONIUS
It has been said that the Stoic philosophy first showed its real value
when it passed from Greece 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
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.
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
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 they will be forgotten. No
religion, no Ethical philosophy is worth anything, if the teacher has
not lived the "life of an apostle," and been ready to die "the death of
a martyr." "Not in passivity (the passive effects) but in activity lie
the evil and the good of the rational social animal, just as his virtue
and his vice lie not in passivity, but in activity" (ix. 16). The
emperor Antoninus was a practical moralist. From his youth he followed a
laborious discipline, and though his high station placed him above all
want or the fear of it, he lived as frugally and temperately as the
poorest philospher. Epictetus wanted little, and it seems that he always
had the little that he wanted and he was content with it, as he had been
with his servile station! But Antoninus after his accession to the
empire sat on an uneasy seat. He had the administration of an empire
which extended from the Euphrates to the Atlantic, from the cold
mountains of Scotland to the hot sands of Africa; and we may imagine,
though we cannot know it by experience, what must be the trials, the
troubles, the anxiety, and the sorrows of him who has the world's
business on his hands, with the wish to do the best that he can, and the
certain knowledge that he can do very little of the good which he
wishes.
[A] De Marco Aurelio Antonino ... ex ipsius Commentariis.
Scriptio Philologica. Instituit Nicolaus Bachius, Lipsiae,
1826.
In the midst of war, pestilence, conspiracy, general corruption, and
with the weight of so unwieldy an empire upon him, we may easily
comprehend that Antoninus often had need of all his fortitude to support
him. The best and the bravest men have moments of doubt and of weakness;
but if they are the best and the bravest, they rise again from their
depression by recurring to first principles, as Antoninus does. The
emperor says that life is smoke, a vapor, and St. James in his Epistle
is of the same mind; that the world is full of envious, jealous,
malignant people, and a man might be well content to get out of it. He
has doubts perhaps sometimes even about that to which he holds most
firmly. There are only a few passages of this kind, but they are
evidence of the struggles which even the noblest of the sons of men had
to maintain against the hard realities of his daily life. A poor remark
it is which I have seen somewhere, and made in a disparaging way, that
the emperor's reflections show that he had need of consolation and
comfort in life, and even to prepare him to meet his death. True that he
did need comfort and support, and we see how he found it. He constantly
recurs to his fundamental principle that the universe is wisely ordered,
that every man is a part of it and must conform to that order which he
cannot change, that whatever the Deity has done is good, that all
mankind are a man's brethren, that he must love and cherish them and try
to make them better, even those who would do him harm. This is his
conclusion (ii. 17): "What then is that which is able to conduct a man?
One thing and only one, Philosophy. But this consists in keeping the
divinity within a man free from violence and unharmed, superior to pains
and pleasures, doing nothing without a purpose nor yet falsely and with
hypocrisy, not feeling the need of another man's doing or not doing
anything; and besides, accepting all that happens and all that is
allotted, as coming from thence, wherever it is, from whence he himself
came; and finally waiting for death with a cheerful mind as being
nothing else than a dissolution of the elements of which every living
being is compounded. But if there is no harm, to the elements themselves
in each continually changing into another, why should a man have any
apprehension about the change and dissolution of all the elements
[himself]? for it is according to nature; and nothing is evil that is
according to nature."
The Physic of Antoninus is the knowledge of the Nature of the Universe,
of its government, and of the relation of man's nature to both. He names
the universe ([Greek: hê tôn hylôn ousia], vi. 1),[A] "the universal
substance," and he adds that "reason" ([Greek: logos]) governs the
universe. He also (vi. 9) uses the terms "universal nature" or "nature
of the universe." He (vi. 25) calls the universe "the one and all, which
we name Cosmos or Order" ([Greek: kosmos]). If he ever seems to use
these general terms as significant of the All, of all that man can in
any way conceive to exist, he still on other occasions plainly
distinguishes between Matter, Material things ([Greek: hylê, hylikon]),
and Cause, Origin, Reason ([Greek: aitia, aitiôdes, logos]).[B] This is
conformable to Zeno's doctrine that there are two original principles
([Greek: archai]) of all things, that which acts ([Greek: to poioun])
and that which is acted upon ([Greek: to paschon]). That which is acted
on is the formless matter ([Greek: hylê]): that which acts is the reason
([Greek: logos]), God, who is eternal and operates through all matter,
and produces all things. So Antoninus (v. 32) speaks of the reason
([Greek: logos])which pervades all substance ([Greek: ousia]), and
through all time by fixed periods (revolutions) administers the universe
([Greek: to pan]). God is eternal, and Matter is eternal. It is God who
gives form to matter, but he is not said to have created matter.
According to this view, which is as old as Anaxagoras, God and matter
exist independently, but God governs matter. This doctrine is simply the
expression of the fact of the existence both of matter and of God. The
Stoics did not perplex themselves with the in-soluble question of the
origin and nature of matter.[C] Antoninus also assumes a beginning of
things, as we now know them; but his language is sometimes very obscure.
I have endeavored to explain the meaning of one difficult passage (vii.
75, and the note).
[A] As to the word [Greek: ousia], the reader may see the
Index. I add here a few examples of the use of the word;
Antoninus has (v. 24), [Greek: hê sumpasa ousia], "the
universal substance." He says (xii. 30 and iv. 40), "there is
one common substance" ([Greek: ousia]), distributed among
countless bodies. In Stobaeus (tom. 1, lib. 1, tit. 14) there
is this definition, [Greek: ousian de phasin tôn ontôn hapantôn
tên prôtên hylên]. In viii. II, Antoninus speaks of [Greek: to
ousiôdes kai hyulikon], "the substantial and the material;" and
(vii. 10) he says that "everything material" ([Greek: enulon])
disappears in the substance of the whole ([Greek: tê tôn holôn
ousia]). The [Greek: ousia] is the generic name of that existence
which we assume as the highest or ultimate, because we conceive
no existence which can be coordinated with it and none above
it. It is the philosopher's "substance:" it is the ultimate
expression for that which we conceive or suppose to be the
basis, the being of a thing. "From the Divine, which is
substance in itself, or the only and sole substance, all and
everything that is created exists" (Swedenborg, Angelic Wisdom,
198).
[B] I remark, in order to anticipate any misapprehension, that
all these general terms involve a contradiction. The "one and
all," and the like, and "the whole," imply limitation. "One" is
limited; "all" is limited; the "whole" is limited. We cannot
help it. We cannot find words to express that which we cannot
fully conceive. The addition of "absolute" or any other such
word does not mend the matter. Even the word God is used by
most people, often unconsciously, in such a way that limitation
is implied, and yet at the same time words are added which are
intended to deny limitation. A Christian martyr, when he was
asked what God was, is said to have answered that God has no
name like a man; and Justin says the same (Apol. ii. 6), "the
names Father, God, Creator, Lord, and Master are not names, but
appellations derived from benefactions and acts." (Compare
Seneca, De Benef. iv. 8.) We can conceive the existence of a
thing, or rather we may have the idea of an existence, without
an adequate notion of it, "adequate" meaning coextensive and
coequal with the thing. We have a notion of limited space
derived from the dimensions of what we call a material thing,
though of space absolute, if I may use the term, we have no
notion at all; and of infinite space the notion is the same--no
notion at all; and yet we conceive it in a sense, though I know
not how, and we believe that space is infinite, and we cannot
conceive it to be finite.
[C] The notions of matter and of space are inseparable. We
derive the notion of space from matter and form. But we have no
adequate conception either of matter or space. Matter in its
ultimate resolution is as unintelligible as what men call mind,
spirit, or by whatever other name they may express the power
which makes itself known by acts. Anaxagoras laid down the
distinction between intelligence [Greek: nous] and matter, and
he said that intelligence impressed motion on matter, and so
separated the elements of matter and gave them order; but he
probably only assumed a beginning, as Simplicius says, as a
foundation of his philosophical teaching. Empedocles said, "The
universe always existed." He had no idea of what is called
creation. Ocellus Lucanus (i, § 2) maintained that the Universe
([Greek: to pan]) was imperishable and uncreated. Consequently
it is eternal. He admitted the existence of God; but his
theology would require some discussion. On the contrary, the
Brachmans, according to Strabo (p. 713, ed. Cas.), taught that
the universe was created and perishable; and the creator and
administrator of it pervades the whole. The author of the book
of Solomon's Wisdom says (xi. 17): "Thy Almighty hand made the
world of matter without form," which may mean that matter
existed already.
The common Greek word which we translate "matter" is [Greek:
hylê]. It is the stuff that things are made of.
Matter consists of elemental parts ([Greek: stoicheia]) of which all
material objects are made. But nothing is permanent in form. The nature
of the universe, according to Antoninus' expression (iv. 36), "loves
nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new
things like them. For everything that exists is in a manner the seed of
that which will be. But thou art thinking only of seeds which are cast
into the earth or into a womb: but this is a very vulgar notion." All
things then are in a constant flux and change; some things are dissolved
into the elements, others come in their places; and so the "whole
universe continues ever young and perfect" (xii. 23).
Antoninus has some obscure expressions about what he calls "seminal
principles" ([Greek: spermatikoi logoi]). He opposes them to the
Epicurean atoms (vi. 24), and consequently his "seminal principles" are
not material atoms which wander about at hazard, and combine nobody
knows how. In one passage (iv. 21) he speaks of living principles, souls
([Greek: psychahi]) after the dissolution of their bodies being
received into the "seminal principle of the universe." Schultz thinks
that by "seminal principles Antoninus means the relations of the various
elemental principles, which relations are determined by the Deity and by
which alone the production of organized beings is possible." This may be
the meaning; but if it is, nothing of any value can be derived from
it.[A] Antoninus often uses the word "Nature" ([Greek: physis]), and we
must attempt to fix its meaning, The simple etymological sense of
[Greek: physis] is "production," the birth of what we call Things. The
Romans used Natura, which also means "birth" originally. But neither the
Greeks nor the Romans stuck to this simple meaning, nor do we. Antoninus
says (x. 6): "Whether the universe is [a concourse of] atoms or Nature
[is a system], let this first be established, that I am a part of the
whole which is governed by nature." Here it might seem as if nature were
personified and viewed as an active, efficient power; as something
which, it not independent of the Deity, acts by a power which is given
to it by the Deity. Such, if I understand the expression right, is the
way in which the word Nature is often used now, though it is plain that
many writers use the word without fixing any exact meaning to it. It is
the same with the expression Laws of Nature, which some writers may use
in an intelligible sense, but others as clearly use in no definite sense
at all. There is no meaning in this word Nature, except that which
Bishop Butler assigns to it, when he says, "The only distinct meaning of
that word Natural is Stated, Fixed, or Settled; since what is natural as
much requires and presupposes an intelligent agent to render it so,
_i.e._, to effect it continually or at stated times, as what is
supernatural or miraculous does to effect it at once." This is Plato's
meaning (De Leg., iv. 715) when he says that God holds the beginning and
end and middle of all that exists, and proceeds straight on his course,
making his circuit according to nature (that is by a fixed order); and
he is continually accompanied by justice, who punishes those who deviate
from the divine law, that is, from the order or course which God
observes.
[A] Justin (Apol. ii. 8) has the words [Greek: kata
spermatikou logou meros], where he is speaking of the Stoics;
but he uses this expression in a peculiar sense (note II). The
early Christian writers were familiar with the Stoic terms, and
their writings show that the contest was begun between the
Christian expositors and the Greek philosophy. Even in the
second Epistle of St. Peter (ii. I, v. 4) we find a Stoic
expression, [Greek: Ina dia toutôn genêsthe theias koinônoi
physeôs.]
When we look at the motions of the planets, the action of what we call
gravitation, the elemental combination of unorganized bodies and their
resolution, the production of plants and of living bodies, their
generation, growth, and their dissolution, which we call their death, we
observe a regular sequence of phenomena, which within the limits of
experience present and past, so far as we know the past, is fixed and
invariable. But if this is not so, if the order and sequence of
phenomena, as known to us, are subject to change in the course of an
infinite progression,--and such change is conceivable,--we have not
discovered, nor shall we ever discover, the whole of the order and
sequence of phenomena, in which sequence there may be involved according
to its very nature, that is, according to its fixed order, some
variation of what we now call the Order or Nature of Things. It is also
conceivable that such changes have taken place,--changes in the order of
things, as we are compelled by the imperfection of language to call
them, but which are no changes; and further it is certain that our
knowledge of the true sequence of all actual phenomena, as for instance
the phenomena of generation, growth, and dissolution, is and ever must
be imperfect.
We do not fare much better when we speak of Causes and Effects than when
we speak of Nature. For the practical purposes of life we may use the
terms cause and effect conveniently, and we may fix a distinct meaning
to them, distinct enough at least to prevent all misunderstanding. But
the case is different when we speak of causes and effects as of Things.
All that we know is phenomena, as the Greeks called them, or appearances
which follow one another in a regular order, as we conceive it, so that
if some one phenomenon should fail in the series, we conceive that there
must either be an interruption of the series, or that something else
will appear after the phenomenon which has failed to appear, and will
occupy the vacant place; and so the series in its progression may be
modified or totally changed. Cause and effect then mean nothing in the
sequence of natural phenomena beyond what I have said; and the real
cause, or the transcendent cause, as some would call it, of each
successive phenomenon is in that which is the cause of all things which
are, which have been, and which will be forever. Thus the word Creation
may have a real sense if we consider it as the first, if we can conceive
a first, in the present order of natural phenomena; but in the vulgar
sense a creation of all things at a certain time, followed by a
quiescence of the first cause and an abandonment of all sequences of
Phenomena to the laws of Nature, or to the other words that people may
Use, is absolutely absurd.[A]
[A] Time and space are the conditions of our thought; but time
infinite and space infinite cannot be objects of thought,
except in a very imperfect way. Time and space must not in any
way be thought of when we think of the Deity. Swedenborg says,
"The natural man may believe that he would have no thought, if
the ideas of time, of space, and of things material were taken
away; for upon those is founded all the thought that man has.
But let him know that the thoughts are limited and confined in
proportion as they partake of time, of space, and of what is
material; and that they are not limited and are extended, in
proportion as they do not partake of those things; since the
mind is so far elevated above the things corporeal and worldly"
(Concerning Heaven and Hell, 169).
[Illustration: THE TEMPLE OF PALLAS]
Now, though there is great difficulty in understanding all the
passages of Antoninus, in which he speaks of Nature, of the changes of
things and of the economy of the universe, I am convinced that his sense
of Nature and Natural is the same as that which I have stated; and as he
was a man who knew how to use words in a clear way and with strict
consistency, we ought to assume, even if his meaning in some passages is
doubtful, that his view of Nature was in harmony with his fixed belief
in the all-pervading, ever present, and ever active energy of God. (ii.
4; iv. 40; x. 1; vi. 40; and other passages. Compare Seneca, De Benef.,
iv. 7. Swedenborg, Angelic Wisdom, 349-357.)
There is much in Antoninus that is hard to understand, and it might be
said that he did not fully comprehend all that he wrote; which would
however be in no way remarkable, for it happens now that a man may write
what neither he nor anybody can understand. Antoninus tells us (xii. 10)
to look at things and see what they are, resolving them into the
material [Greek: hylê], the casual [Greek: aition], and the relation
[Greek: anaphora], or the purpose, by which he seems to mean something
in the nature of what we call effect, or end. The word Caus ([Greek:
aitia]) is the difficulty. There is the same word in the Sanscrit
(hétu); and the subtle philosophers of India and of Greece, and
the less subtle philosophers of modern times, have all used this word,
or an equivalent word, in a vague way. Yet the confusion sometimes may
be in the inevitable ambiguity of language rather than in the mind of
the writer, for I cannot think that some of the wisest of men did not
know what they intended to say. When Antoninus says (iv. 36), "that
everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be,"
he might be supposed to say what some of the Indian philosophers have
said, and thus a profound truth might be converted into a gross
absurdity. But he says, "in a manner," and in a manner he said true; and
in another manner, if you mistake his meaning, he said false. When Plato
said, "Nothing ever is, but is always becoming" ([Greek: aei
gignetai]), he delivered a text, out of which we may derive something;
for he destroys by it not all practical, but all speculative notions of
cause and effect. The whole series of things, as they appear to us, must
be contemplated in time, that is in succession, and we conceive or
suppose intervals between one state of things and another state of
things, so that there is priority and sequence, and interval, and Being,
and a ceasing to Be, and beginning and ending. But there is nothing of
the kind in the Nature of Things. It is an everlasting continuity (iv.
45; vii. 75). When Antoninus speaks of generation (x. 26), he speaks of
one cause ([Greek: aitia]) acting, and then another cause taking up the
work, which the former left in a certain state, and so on; and we might
perhaps conceive that he had some notion like what has been called "the
self-evolving power of nature;" a fine phrase indeed, the full import of
which I believe that the writer of it did not see, and thus he laid
himself open to the imputation of being a follower of one of the Hindu
sects, which makes all things come by evolution out of nature or matter,
or out of something which takes the place of Deity, but is not Deity. I
would have all men think as they please, or as they can, and I only
claim the same freedom which I give. When a man writes anything, we may
fairly try to find out all that his words must mean, even if the result
is that they mean what he did not mean; and if we find this
contradiction, it is not our fault, but his misfortune. Now Antoninus is
perhaps somewhat in this condition in what he says (x. 26), though he
speaks at the end of the paragraph of the power which acts, unseen by
the eyes, but still no less clearly. But whether in this passage (x. 26)
lie means that the power is conceived to be in the different successive
causes ([Greek: aitiai]), or in something else, nobody can tell. From
other passages, however, I do collect that his notion of the phenomena
of the universe is what I have stated. The Deity works unseen, if we may
use such language, and perhaps I may, as Job did, or he who wrote the
book of Job. "In him we live and move and are," said St. Paul to the
Athenians; and to show his hearers that this was no new doctrine, he
quoted the Greek poets. One of these poets was the Stoic Cleauthes,
whose noble hymn to Zeus, or God, is an elevated expression of devotion
and philosophy. It deprives Nature of her power, and puts her under the
immediate government of the Deity.
"Thee all this heaven, which whirls around the earth,
Obeys, and willing follows where thou leadest.
Without thee, God, nothing is done on earth,
Nor in the ethereal realms, nor in the sea,
Save what the wicked through their folly do."
Antoninus' conviction of the existence of a divine power and government
was founded on his perception of the order of the universe. Like
Socrates (Xen. Mem., iv. 3, 13, etc.) he says that though we cannot see
the forms of divine powers, we know that they exist because we see their
works.
"To those who ask, Where hast thou seen the gods, or how dost thou
comprehend that they exist and so worshipest them? I answer, in the
first place, that they may be seen even with the eyes; in the second
place, neither have I seen 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."
(xii. 28, and the note. Comp. Aristotle de Mundo, c. 6; Xen. Mem. i. 4,
9; Cicero, Tuscul. i. 28, 29; St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, i. 19,
20; and Montaigne's Apology for Raimond de Sebonde, ii. c. 12.) This is
a very old argument, which has always had great weight with most people,
and has appeared sufficient. It does not acquire the least additional
strength by being developed in a learned treatise. It is as intelligible
in its simple enunciation as it can be made. If it is rejected, there is
no arguing with him who rejects it: and if it is worked out into
innumerable particulars, the value of the evidence runs the risk of
being buried under a mass of words.
Man being conscious that he is a spiritual power, or that he has such a
power, in whatever way he conceives that he has it--for I wish simply to
state a fact--from this power which he has in himself, he is led, as
Antoninus says, to believe that there is a greater power, which, as the
old Stoics tell us, pervades the whole universe as the intellect[A]
([Greek: nous]) pervades man. (Compare Epictetus' Discourses, i. 14;
and Voltaire à Mad^e. Necker, vol. lxvii., p. 278, ed. Lequien.)
[A] I have always translated the word [Greek: nous],
"intelligence" or "intellect." It appears to be the word used
by the oldest Greek philosophers to express the notion of
"intelligence" as opposed to the notion of "matter." I have
always translated the word [Greek: logos] by "reason," and
[Greek: logikos] by the word "rational," or perhaps sometimes
"reasonable," as I have translated [Greek: noeros] by the word
"intellectual." Every man who has thought and has read any
philosophical writings knows the difficulty of finding words to
express certain notions, how imperfectly words express these
notions, and how carelessly the words are often used. The
various senses of the word [Greek: logos] are enough to perplex
any man. Our translators of the New Testament (St. John, c. 1.)
have simply translated [Greek: ho logos] by "the word," as the
Germans translated it by "das Wort;" but in their theological
writings they sometimes retain the original term Logos. The
Germans have a term Vernunft, which seems to come nearest to
our word Reason, or the necessary and absolute truths which we
cannot conceive as being other than what they are. Such are
what some people have called the laws of thought, the
conceptions of space and of time, and axioms or first
principles, which need no proof and cannot be proved or denied.
Accordingly the Germans can say, "Gott ist die höchste
Vernunft," the Supreme Reason. The Germans have also a word
Verstand, which seems to represent our word "understanding,"
"intelligence," "intellect," not as a thing absolute which
exists by itself, but as a thing connected with an individual
being, as a man. Accordingly it is the capacity of receiving
impressions (Vorstellungen, [Greek: phantasiai],) and forming
from them distinct ideas (Begriffe), and perceiving
differences. I do not think that these remarks will help the
reader to the understanding of Antoninus, or his use of the
words [Greek: nous] and [Greek: logos]. The emperor's meaning
must be got from his own words, and if it does not agree
altogether with modern notions, it is not our business to force
it into agreement, but simply to find out what his meaning is,
if we can.
Justinus (ad Diognetum, c. vii.) says that the omnipotent,
all-creating, and invisible God has fixed truth and the holy,
incomprehensible Logos in men's hearts; and this Logos is the
architect and creator of the Universe. In the first Apology (c.
xxxii.), he says that the seed ([Greek: sperma]) from God is
the Logos, which dwells in those who believe in God. So it
appears that according to Justinus the Logos is only in such
believers. In the second Apology (c. viii.) he speaks of the
seed of the Logos being implanted in all mankind; but those who
order their lives according to Logos, such as the Stoics, have
only a portion of the Logos ([Greek: kata spermatikou logou
meros]), and have not the knowledge and contemplation of the
entire Logos, which is Christ. Swedenborg's remarks (Angelic
Wisdom, 240) are worth comparing with Justinus. The modern
philosopher in substance agrees with the ancient; but he is
more precise.
God exists then, but what do we know of his nature? Antoninus says that
the soul of man is an efflux from the divinity. We have bodies like
animals, but we have reason, intelligence, as the gods. Animals have
life ([Greek: psychê]) and what we call instincts or natural principles
of action: but the rational animal man alone has a rational, intelligent
soul ([Greek: psychê logikê noera]). Antoninus insists on this
continually: God is in man,[A] and so we must constantly attend to the
divinity within us, for it is only in this way that we can have any
knowledge of the nature of God. The human soul is in a sense a portion
of the divinity, and the soul alone has any communication with the
Deity; for as he says (xii. 2): "With his intellectual part alone God
touches the intelligence only which has flowed and been derived from
himself into these bodies." In fact he says that which is hidden within
a man is life, that is, the man himself. All the rest is vesture,
covering, organs, instrument, which the living man, the real[B] man,
uses for the purpose of his present existence. The air is universally
diffused for him who is able to respire; and so for him who is willing
to partake of it the intelligent power, which holds within it all
things, is diffused as wide and free as the air (viii. 54). It is by
living a divine life that man approaches to a knowledge of the
divinity.[C] It is by following the divinity within [Greek: daimôn] or
[Greek: theos], as Antonius calls it, that man comes nearest to the
Deity, the supreme good; for man can never attain to perfect agreement
with his internal guide ([Greek: to hêgemonikon]). "Live with the gods.
And he does live with the gods who constantly shows to them that his own
soul is satisfied with that which is assigned to him, and that it does
all the daemon ([Greek: daimôn]) wishes, which Zeus hath given to every
man for his guardian and guide, a portion of himself. And this daemon is
every man's understanding and reason" (v. 27).
[A] Comp. Ep. to the Corinthians, i. 3, 17, and James iv. 8,
"Drawnigh to God and he will draw nigh to you."
[B] This is also Swedenborg's doctrine of the soul. "As to what
concerns the soul, of which it is said that it shall live after
death, it is nothing else but the man himself, who lives in the
body, that is, the interior man, who by the body acts in the
world and from whom the body itself lives" (quoted by Clissold,
p. 456 of "The Practical Nature of the Theological Writings of
Emanuel Swedenborg, in a Letter to the Archbishop of Dublin
(Whately)," second edition, 1859; a book which theologians
might read with profit). This is an old doctrine of the soul,
which has been often proclaimed, but never better expressed
than by the "Auctor de Mundo," c. 6, quoted by Gataker in his
"Antoninus," p. 436. "The soul by which we live and have cities
and houses is invisible, but it is seen by its works; for the
whole method of life has been devised by it and ordered, and by
it is held together. In like manner we must think also about
the Deity, who in power is most mighty, in beauty most comely,
in life immortal, and in virtue supreme: wherefore though he is
invisible to human nature, he is seen by his very works." Other
passages to the same purpose are quoted by Gataker (p. 382).
Bishop Butler has the same as to the soul: "Upon the whole,
then, our organs of sense and our limbs are certainly
instruments, which the living persons, ourselves, make use of
to perceive and move with." If this is not plain enough, be
also says: "It follows that our organized bodies are no more
ourselves, or part of ourselves, than any other matter around
us." (Compare Anton, x. 38).
[C] The reader may consult Discourse V., "Of the existence and
nature of God," in John Smith's "Select Discourses." He has
prefixed as a text to this Discourse, the striking passage of
Agapetus, Paraenes. § 3: "He who knows himself will know God;
and he who knows God will be made like to God; and he will be
made like to God, who has become worthy of God; and he becomes
worthy of God, who does nothing unworthy of God, but thinks the
things that are his, and speaks what he thinks, and does what
he speaks." I suppose that the old saying, "Know thyself,"
which is attributed to Socrates and others, had a larger
meaning than the narrow sense which is generally given to it.
(Agapetus, ed. Stephan. Schoning, Franeker, 1608. This volume
contains also the Paraeneses of Nilus.)
There is in man, that is in the reason, the intelligence, a superior
faculty which if it is exercised rules all the rest. This is the ruling
faculty ([Greek: to hêgemonikon]), which Cicero (De Natura Deorum, ii.
11) renders by the Latin word Principatus, "to which nothing can or
ought to be superior." Antoninus often uses this term and others which
are equivalent. He names it (vii. 64) "the governing intelligence." The
governing faculty is the master of the soul (v. 26). A man must
reverence only his ruling faculty and the divinity within him. As we
must reverence that which is supreme in the universe, so we must
reverence that which is supreme in ourselves; and this is that which is
of like kind with that which is supreme in the universe (v. 21). So, as
Plotinus says, the soul of man can only know the divine so far as it
knows itself. In one passage (xi. 19) Antoninus speaks of a man's
condemnation of himself when the diviner part within him has been
overpowered and yields to the less honorable and to the perishable part,
the body, and its gross pleasures. In a word, the views of Antoninus on
this matter, however his expressions may vary, are exactly what Bishop
Butler expresses when he speaks of "the natural supremacy of reflection
or conscience," of the faculty "which surveys, approves, or disapproves
the several affections of our mind and actions of our lives."
Much matter might be collected from Antoninus on the notion of the
Universe being one animated Being. But all that he says amounts to no
more, as Schultz remarks, than this: the soul of man is most intimately
united to his body, and together they make one animal, which we call
man; so the Deity is most intimately united to the world, or the
material universe, and together they form one whole. But Antoninus did
not view God and the material universe as the same, any more than he
viewed the body and soul of man as one. Antoninus has 110 speculations
on the absolute nature of the Deity. It was not his fashion to waste his
time on what man cannot understand.[A] He was satisfied that God exists,
that he governs all things, that man can only have an imperfect
knowledge of his nature, and he must attain this imperfect knowledge by
reverencing the divinity which is within him, and keeping it pure.
[A] "God, who is infinitely beyond the reach of our narrow
capacities" (Locke, Essay concerning the Human Understanding,
ii. chap. 17).
From all that has been said, it follows that the universe is
administered by the Providence of God ([Greek: pronoia]), and that all
things are wisely ordered. There are passages in which Antoninus
expresses doubts, or states different possible theories of the
constitution and government of the universe; but he always recurs to his
fundamental principle, that if we admit the existence of a deity, we
must also admit that he orders all things wisely and well (iv. 27; vi.
1; ix. 28; xii. 5; and many other passages). Epictetus says (i. 6) that
we can discern the providence which rules the world, if we possess two
things,--the power of seeing all that happens with respect to each
thing, and a grateful disposition.
But if all things are wisely ordered, how is the world so full of what
we call evil, physical and moral? If instead of saying that there is
evil in the world, we use the expression which I have used, "what we
call evil," we have partly anticipated the emperor's answer. We see and
feel and know imperfectly very few things in the few years that we live,
and all the knowledge and all the experience of all the human race is
positive ignorance of the whole, which is infinite. Now, as our reason
teaches us that everything is in some way related to and connected with
every other thing, all notion of evil as being in the universe of things
is a contradiction; for if the whole comes from and is governed by an
intelligent being, it is impossible to conceive anything in it which
tends to the evil or destruction of the whole (viii. 55; x. 6).
Everything is in constant mutation, and yet the whole subsists; we might
imagine the solar system resolved into its elemental parts, and yet the
whole would still subsist "ever young and perfect."
All things, all forms, are dissolved, and new forms appear. All living
things undergo the change which we call death. If we call death an evil,
then all change is an evil. Living beings also suffer pain, and man
suffers most of all, for he suffers both in and by his body and by his
intelligent part. Men suffer also from one another, and perhaps the
largest part of human suffering comes to man from those whom he calls
his brothers. Antoninus says (viii. 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 shall choose." The first
part of this is perfectly consistent with the doctrine that the whole
can sustain no evil or harm. The second part must be explained by the
Stoic principle that there is no evil in anything which is not in our
power. What wrong we suffer from another is his evil, not ours. But this
is an admission that there is evil in a sort, for he who does wrong does
evil, and if others can endure the wrong, still there is evil in the
wrong-doer. Antoninus (xi. 18) gives many excellent precepts with
respect to wrongs and injuries, and his precepts are practical. He
teaches us to bear what we cannot avoid, and his lessons may be just as
useful to him who denies the being and the government of God as to him
who believes in both. There is no direct answer in Antoninus to the
objections which may be made to the existence and providence of God
because of the moral disorder and suffering which are in the world,
except this answer which he makes in reply to the supposition that even
the best men may be extinguished by death. He says if it is so, we may
be sure that if it ought to have been otherwise, the gods would have
ordered it otherwise (xii. 5). His conviction of the wisdom which we may
observe in the government of the world is too strong to be disturbed by
any apparent irregularities in the order of things. That these disorders
exist is a fact, and those who would conclude from them against the
being and government of God conclude too hastily. We all admit that
there is an order in the material world, a Nature, in the sense in which
that word has been explained, a constitution ([Greek: kataskeuê]), what we
call a system, a relation of parts to one another and a fitness of the
whole for something. So in the constitution of plants and of animals
there is an order, a fitness for some end. Sometimes the order, as we
conceive it, is interrupted, and the end, as we conceive it, is not
attained. The seed, the plant, or the animal sometimes perishes before
it has passed through all its changes and done all its uses. It is
according to Nature, that is a fixed order, for some to perish early and
for others to do all their uses and leave successors to take their
place. So man has a corporeal and intellectual and moral constitution
fit for certain uses, and on the whole man performs these uses, dies,
and leaves other men in his place. So society exists, and a social state
is manifestly the natural state of man--the state for which his nature
fits him, and society amidst innumerable irregularities and disorders
still subsists; and perhaps we may say that the history of the past and
our present knowledge give us a reasonable hope that its disorders will
diminish, and that order, its governing principle, may be more firmly
established. As order then, a fixed order, we may say, subject to
deviations real or apparent, must be admitted to exist in the whole
nature of things, that which we call disorder or evil, as it seems to
us, does not in any way alter the fact of the general constitution of
things having a nature or fixed order. Nobody will conclude from the
existence of disorder that order is not the rule, for the existence of
order both physical and moral is proved by daily experience and all past
experience. We cannot conceive how the order of the universe is
maintained: we cannot even conceive how our own life from day to day is
continued, nor how we perform the simplest movements of the body, nor
how we grow and think and act, though we know many of the conditions
which are necessary for all these functions. Knowing nothing then of the
unseen power which acts in ourselves except by what is done, we know
nothing of the power which acts through what we call all time and all
space; but seeing that there is a nature or fixed order in all things
known to us, it is conformable to the nature of our minds to believe
that this universal Nature has a cause which operates continually, and
that we are totally unable to speculate on the reason of any of those
disorders or evils which we perceive. This I believe is the answer which
may be collected from all that Antoninus has said.[A]
[A] Cleanthes says in his Hymn:--
"For all things good and bad to One thou formest,
So that One everlasting reason governs all."
See Bishop Butler's Sermons. Sermon XV., "Upon the Ignorance of
Man."
The origin of evil is an old question. Achilles tells Priam (Iliad,
24, 527) that Zeus has two casks, one filled with good things, and the
other with bad, and that he gives to men out of each according to his
pleasure; and so we must be content, for we cannot alter the will of
Zeus. One of the Greek commentators asks how must we reconcile this
doctrine with what we find in the first book of the Odyssey, where the
king of the gods says, Men say that evil comes to them from us, but they
bring it on themselves through their own folly. The answer is plain
enough even to the Greek commentator. The poets make both Achilles and
Zeus speak appropriately to their several characters. Indeed, Zeus says
plainly that men do attribute their sufferings to their gods, but they
do it falsely, for they are the cause of their own sorrows.
[Illustration: THE APPIAN WAY, ROME]
Epictetus in his Enchiridion (c. 27) makes short work of the question of
evil. He says, "As a mark is not set up for the purpose of missing it,
so neither does the nature of evil exist in the universe." This will
appear obscure enough to those who are not acquainted with Epictetus,
but he always knows what he is talking about. We do not set up a mark in
order to miss it, though we may miss it. God, whose existence Epictetus
assumes, has not ordered all things so that his purpose shall fail.
Whatever there may be of what we call evil, the nature of evil, as he
expresses it, does not exist; that is, evil is not a part of the
constitution or nature of things. If there were a principle of evil
([Greek: archê]) in the constitution of things, evil would no longer be
evil, as Simplicius argues, but evil would be good. Simplicius (c. 34,
[27]) has a long and curious discourse on this text of Epictetus, and it
is amusing and instructive.
One passage more will conclude this matter. It contains all that the
emperor could say (ii. 11): "To go from among men, if there are gods, is
not a thing to be afraid of, for the gods will not involve thee in evil;
but if indeed they do not exist, or if they have no concern about human
affairs, what is it to me to 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 all the means in man's power to enable him not
to fall into real evils. And as to the rest, if there was anything evil,
they would have provided for this also, that it should be altogether in
a man's power not to fall into it. But that which does not make a man
worse, how can it make a man's life worse? But neither through
ignorance, nor having the knowledge but not the power to guard against
or correct these things, is it possible that the nature of the universe
has overlooked them; nor is it possible that it has made so great a
mistake, either through want of power or want of skill, that good and
evil should happen indiscriminately to the good and the bad. But death
certainly and life, honor and dishonor, pain and pleasure, all these
things equally happen to good and bad men, being things which make us
neither better nor worse. Therefore they are neither good nor evil."
The Ethical part of Antoninus' Philosophy follows from his general
principles. The end of all his philosophy is to live conformably to
Nature, both a man's own nature and the nature of the universe. Bishop
Butler has explained what the Greek philosophers meant when they spoke
of living according to Nature, and he says that when it is explained, as
he has explained it and as they understood it, it is "a manner of
speaking not loose and undeterminate, but clear and distinct, strictly
just and true." To live according to Nature is to live according to a
man's whole nature, not according to a part of it, and to reverence the
divinity within him as the governor of all his actions. "To the rational
animal the same act is according to nature and according to reason"[A]
(vii. 11). That which is done contrary to reason is also an act contrary
to nature, to the whole nature, though it is certainly conformable to
some part of man's nature, or it could not be done. Man is made for
action, not for idleness or pleasure. As plants and animals do the uses
of their nature, so man must do his (v. 1).
[A] This is what Juvenal means when he says (xiv. 321),--
"Nunquam aliud Natura aliud Sapientia dicit."
Man must also live conformably to the universal nature, conformably to
the nature of all things of which he is one; and as a citizen of a
political community he must direct his life and actions with reference
to those among whom, among other purposes, he lives.[A] A man must not
retire into solitude and cut himself off from his fellow-men. He must be
ever active to do his part in the great whole. All men are his kin, not
only in blood, but still more by participating in the same intelligence
and by being a portion of the same divinity. A man cannot really be
injured by his brethren, for no act of theirs can make him bad, and he
must not be angry with them nor hate them: "For we are made for
co-operation, 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" (ii. 1).
[A] See viii. 52; and Persius iii. 66
Further he says: "Take pleasure in one thing and rest in it in passing
from one social act to another social act, thinking of God" (vi. 7).
Again: "Love mankind. Follow God" (vii. 31). It is the characteristic of
the rational soul for a man to love his neighbor (xi. 1). Antoninus
teaches in various passages the forgiveness of injuries, and we know
that he also practised what he taught. Bishop Butler remarks that "this
divine precept to forgive injuries and to love our enemies, though to be
met with in Gentile moralists, yet is in a peculiar sense a precept of
Christianity, as our Saviour has insisted more upon it than on any other
single virtue." The practice of this precept is the most difficult of
all virtues. Antoninus often enforces it and gives us aid towards
following it. When we are injured, we feel anger and resentment, and the
feeling is natural, just, and useful for the conservation of society. It
is useful that wrong-doers should feel the natural consequences of their
actions, among which is the disapprobation of society and the resentment
of him who is wronged. But revenge, in the proper sense of that word,
must not be practised. "The best way of avenging thyself," says the
emperor, "is not to become like the wrong-doer." It is plain by this
that he does not mean that we should in any case practise revenge; but
he says to those who talk of revenging wrongs, Be not like him who has
done the wrong. Socrates in the Crito (c. 10) says the same in other
words, and St. Paul (Ep. to the Romans, xii. 17). "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" (vii. 26). Antoninus would not
deny that wrong naturally produces the feeling of anger and resentment,
for this is implied in the recommendation to reflect on the nature of
the man's mind who has done the wrong, and then you will have pity
instead of resentment; and so it comes to the same as St. Paul's advice
to be angry and sin not; which, as Butler well explains it, is not a
recommendation to be angry, which nobody needs, for anger is a natural
passion, but it is a warning against allowing anger to lead us into sin.
In short the emperor's doctrine about wrongful acts is this: wrong-doers
do not know what good and bad are: they offend out of ignorance, and in
the sense of the Stoics this is true. Though this kind of ignorance will
never be admitted as a legal excuse, and ought not to be admitted as a
full excuse in any way by society, there may be grievous injuries, such
as it is in a man's power to forgive without harm to society; and if he
forgives because he sees that his enemies know not what they do, he is
acting in the spirit of the sublime prayer, "Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do."
The emperor's moral philosophy was not a feeble, narrow system, which
teaches a man to look directly to his own happiness, though a man's
happiness or tranquillity is indirectly promoted by living as he ought
to do. A man must live conformably to the universal nature, which means,
as the emperor explains it in many passages, that a man's actions must
be conformable to his true relations to all other human beings, both as
a citizen of a political community and as a member of the whole human
family. This implies, and he often expresses it in the most forcible
language, that a man's words and actions, so far as they affect others,
must be measured by a fixed rule, which is their consistency with the
conservation and the interests of the particular society of which he is
a member, and of the whole human race. To live conformably to such a
rule, a man must use his rational faculties in order to discern clearly
the consequences and full effect of all his actions and of the actions
of others: he must not live a life of contemplation and reflection only,
though he must often retire within himself to calm and purify his soul
by thought,[A] but he must mingle in the work of man and be a fellow
laborer for the general good.
[A] Ut nemo in sese tentat descendere, nemo.--_Persius_, iv.
21.
A man should have an object or purpose in life, that he may direct all
his energies to it; of course a good object (ii. 7). He who has not one
object or purpose of life, cannot be one and the same all through his
life (xi. 21). Bacon has a remark to the same effect, on the best means
of "reducing of the mind unto virtue and good estate; which is, the
electing and propounding unto a man's self good and virtuous ends of his
life, such as may be in a reasonable sort within his compass to attain."
He is a happy man who has been wise enough to do this when he was young
and has had the opportunities; but the emperor seeing well that a man
cannot always be so wise in his youth, encourages himself to do it when
he can, and not to let life slip away before he has begun. He who can
propose to himself good and virtuous ends of life, and be true to them,
cannot fail to live conformably to his own interest and the universal
interest, for in the nature of things they are one. If a thing is not
good for the hive, it is not good for the bee (vi. 54).
One passage may end this matter. "If the gods have determined about me
and about the things which must happen to me, they have determined well,
for it is not easy even to imagine a deity without forethought; and as
to doing me harm, why should they have any desire towards that? For what
advantage would result to them from this or to the whole, which is the
special object of their providence? But if they have not determined
about me individually, they have certainly determined about the whole at
least; and the things which happen by way of sequence in this general
arrangement I ought to accept with pleasure and to be content with them.
But if they determine about nothing--which it is wicked to believe, or
if we do believe it, let us neither sacrifice nor pray nor swear by
them, nor do anything else which we do as if the gods were present and
lived with us; but if however the gods determine about none of the
things which concern us, I am able to determine about myself, and I can
inquire about that which is useful: and that is useful to every man
which is conformable to his own constitution ([Greek: kataskeuê]) and
nature. But my nature is rational and social; and my city and country,
so far as I am Antoninus, is Rome; but so far as I am a man, it is the
world. The things then which are useful to these cities are alone useful
to me" (vi. 44).
It would be tedious, and it is not necessary, to state the emperor's
opinions on all the ways in which a man may profitably use his
understanding towards perfecting himself in practical virtue. The
passages to this purpose are in all parts of his book, but as they are
in no order or connection, a man must use the book a long time before he
will find out all that is in it. A few words may be added here. If we
analyze all other things, we find how insufficient they are for human
life, and how truly worthless many of them are. Virtue alone is
indivisible, one, and perfectly satisfying. The notion of Virtue cannot
be considered vague or unsettled, because a man may find it difficult to
explain the notion fully to himself, or to expound it to others in such
a way as to prevent cavilling. Virtue is a whole, and no more consists
of parts than man's intelligence does; and yet we speak of various
intellectual faculties as a convenient way of expressing the various
powers which man's intellect shows by his works. In the same way we may
speak of various virtues or parts of virtue, in a practical sense, for
the purpose of showing what particular virtues we ought to practice in
order to the exercise of the whole of virtue, that is, as man's nature
is capable of.
The prime principle in man's constitution is social. The next in order
is not to yield to the persuasions of the body, when they are not
conformable to the rational principle, which must govern. The third is
freedom from error and from deception. "Let then the ruling principle
holding fast to these things go straight on, and it has what is its own"
(vii. 55). The emperor selects justice as the virtue which is the basis
of all the rest (x. 11), and this had been said long before his time.
It is true that all people have some notion of what is meant by justice
as a disposition of the mind, and some notion about acting in conformity
to this disposition; but experience shows that men's notions about
justice are as confused as their actions are inconsistent with the true
notion of justice. The emperor's notion of justice is clear enough, but
not practical enough for all mankind. "Let there be freedom from
perturbations with respect to the things which come from the external
cause; and let there be justice in the things done by virtue of the
internal cause, that is, let there be movement and action terminating in
this, in social acts, for this is according to thy nature" (ix. 31). In
another place (ix. 1) he says that "he who acts unjustly acts
impiously," which follows of course from all that he says in various
places. He insists on the practice of truth as a virtue and as a means
to virtue, which no doubt it is: for lying even in indifferent things
weakens the understanding; and lying maliciously is as great a moral
offense as a man can be guilty of, viewed both as showing an habitual
disposition, and viewed with respect to consequences. He couples the
notion of justice with action. A man must not pride himself on having
some fine notion of justice in his head, but he must exhibit his justice
in act, like St. James' notion of faith. But this is enough.
The Stoics, and Antoninus among them, call some things beautiful
([Greek: kala]) and some ugly ([Greek: aischra]), and as they are beautiful
so they are good, and as they are ugly so they are evil, or bad (ii. 1).
All these things, good and evil, are in our power, absolutely, some of
the stricter Stoics would say; in a manner only, as those who would not
depart altogether from common sense would say; practically they are to a
great degree in the power of some persons and in some circumstances, but
in a small degree only in other persons and in other circumstances. The
Stoics maintain man's free will as to the things which are in his power;
for as to the things which are out of his power, free will terminating
in action is of course excluded by the very terms of the expression. I
hardly know if we can discover exactly Antoninus' notion of the free
will of man, nor is the question worth the inquiry. What he does mean
and does say is intelligible. All the things which are not in our power
([Greek: aproaireta]) are indifferent: they are neither good nor bad,
morally. Such are life, health, wealth, power, disease, poverty, and
death. Life and death are all men's portion. Health, wealth, power,
disease, and poverty happen to men, indifferently to the good and to the
bad; to those who live according to nature and to those who do not.[A]
"Life," says the emperor, "is a warfare and a stranger's sojourn, and
after fame is oblivion" (ii. 17). After speaking of those men who have
disturbed the world and then died, and of the death of philosophers such
as Heraclitus and Democritus, who was destroyed by lice, and of Socrates
whom other lice (his enemies) destroyed, he says: "What means all this?
Thou hast embarked, thou hast made the voyage, thou art come to shore;
get out. If indeed to another life, there is no want of gods, not even
there. But if to a state without sensation, thou wilt cease to be held
by pains and pleasures, and to be a slave to the vessel which is as much
inferior as that which serves it is superior: for the one is
intelligence and Deity; the other is earth and corruption" (iii. 3). It
is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning
to live according to nature (xii. 1). Every man should live in such a
way as to discharge his duty, and to trouble himself about nothing else.
He should live such a life that he shall always be ready for death, and
shall depart content when the summons comes. For what is death? "A
cessation of the impressions through the senses, and of the pulling of
the strings which move the appetites, and of the discursive movements of
the thoughts, and of the service to the flesh" (vi. 28). Death is such
as generation is, a mystery of nature (iv. 5). In another passage, the
exact meaning of which is perhaps doubtful (ix. 3), he speaks of the
child which leaves the womb, and so he says the soul at death leaves its
envelope. As the child is born or comes into life by leaving the womb,
so the soul may on leaving the body pass into another existence which is
perfect. I am not sure if this is the emperor's meaning. Butler compares
it with a passage in Strabo (p. 713) about the Brachmans' notion of
death being the birth into real life and a happy life, to those who have
philosophized; and he thinks Antoninus may allude to this opinion.[B]
[A] "All events come alike to all: there is one event to the
righteous and to the wicked: to the good and to the clean and
to the unclean," &c. (Ecclesiastes, ix. v. 2); and (v. 3),
"This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun,
that there is one event unto all." In what sense "evil" is
meant here seems rather doubtful. There is no doubt about the
emperor's meaning. Compare Epictetus, Enchiridion, c. i., &c.;
and the doctrine of the Brachmans (Strabo p. 713, ed. Cas.):
[Greek: agathon de ê kakon mêden einai tôn sumbainontôn
anthrôpois].
[B] Seneca (Ep. 102) has the same, whether an expression of his
own opinion, or merely a fine saying of others employed to
embellish his writings, I know not. After speaking of the child
being prepared in the womb to live this life, he adds, "Sic per
hoc spatium, quod ab infantia patet in senectutem, in alium
naturae sumimur partum. Alia origo nos expectat, alius rerum
status." See Ecclesiastes, xii. 7; and Lucan, i. 457:--
"Longae, canitis si cognita, vitae
Mors media est."
Antoninus' opinion of a future life is nowhere clearly expressed. His
doctrine of the nature of the soul of necessity implies that it does not
perish absolutely, for a portion of the divinity cannot perish. The
opinion is at least as old as the time of Epicharmus and Euripides; what
comes from earth goes back to earth, and what comes from heaven, the
divinity, returns to him who gave it. But I find nothing clear in
Antoninus as to the notion of the man existing after death so as to be
conscious of his sameness with that soul which occupied his vessel of
clay. He seems to be perplexed on this matter, and finally to have
rested in this, that God or the gods will do whatever is best, and
consistent with the university of things.
Nor, I think, does he speak conclusively on another Stoic doctrine,
which some Stoics practised,--the anticipating the regular course of
nature by a man's own act. The reader will find some passages in which
this is touched on, and he may make of them what he can. But there are
passages in which the emperor encourages himself to wait for the end
patiently and with tranquillity; and certainly it is consistent with all
his best teaching that a man should bear all that falls to his lot and
do useful acts as he lives. He should not therefore abridge the time of
his usefulness by his own act. Whether he contemplates any possible
cases in which a man should die by his own hand, I cannot tell; and the
matter is not worth a curious inquiry, for I believe it would not lead
to any certain result as to his opinion on this point. I do not think
that Antoninus, who never mentions Seneca, though he must have known all
about him, would have agreed with Seneca when he gives as a reason for
suicide, that the eternal law, whatever he means, has made nothing
better for us than this, that it has given us only one way of entering
into life and many ways of going out of it. The ways of going out indeed
are many, and that is a good reason for a man taking care of himself.[A]
[A] See Plinius H.N. ii., c. 7; Seneca, De Provid. c. 6; and
Ep. 70: "Nihil melius aeterna lex," &c.
Happiness was not the direct object of a Stoic's life. There is no rule
of life contained in the precept that a man should pursue his own
happiness. Many men think that they are seeking happiness when they are
only seeking the gratification of some particular passion, the strongest
that they have. The end of a man is, as already explained, to live
conformably to nature, and he will thus obtain happiness, tranquillity
of mind, and contentment (iii. 12; viii. 1, and other places). As a
means of living conformably to nature he must study the four chief
virtues, each of which has its proper sphere: wisdom, or the knowledge
of good and evil; justice, or the giving to every man his due;
fortitude, or the enduring of labor and pain; and temperance, which is
moderation in all things. By thus living conformably to nature the Stoic
obtained all that he wished or expected. His reward was in his virtuous
life, and he was satisfied with that. Some Greek poet long ago wrote:--
"For virtue only of all human things
Takes her reward not from the hands of others.
Virtue herself rewards the toils of virtue."
Some of the Stoics indeed expressed themselves in very arrogant, absurd
terms, about the wise man's self-sufficiency; they elevated him to the
rank of a deity.[A] But these were only talkers and lecturers, such as
those in all ages who utter fine words, know little of human affairs,
and care only for notoriety. Epictetus and Antoninus both by precept and
example labored to improve themselves and others; and if we discover
imperfections in their teaching, we must still honor these great men who
attempted to show that there is in man's nature and in the constitution
of things sufficient reason for living a virtuous life. It is difficult
enough to live as we ought to live, difficult even for any man to live
in such a way as to satisfy himself, if he exercises only in a moderate
degree the power of reflecting upon and reviewing his own conduct; and
if all men cannot be brought to the same opinions in morals and
religion, it is at least worth while to give them good reasons for as
much as they can be persuaded to accept.
[A] J. Smith in his Select Discourses on "the Excellency and
Nobleness of True Religion" (c. vi.) has remarked on this
Stoical arrogance. He finds it in Seneca and others. In Seneca
certainly, and perhaps something of it in Epictetus; but it is
not in Antoninus.
THE THOUGHTS
OF
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONIUS.
I.
From my grandfather Verus[A] [I learned] good morals and the government
of my temper.
2. From the reputation and remembrance of my father,[B] modesty and a
manly character.
3. From my mother,[C] piety and beneficence, 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.
4. From my great-grandfather,[D] not to have frequented public schools,
and to have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a
man should spend liberally.
[A] Annius Verus was his grandfather's name. There is no verb
in this section connected with the word "from," nor in the
following sections of this book; and it is not quite certain
what verb should be supplied. What I have added may express the
meaning here, though there are sections which it will not fit.
If he does not mean to say that he learned all these good
things from the several persons whom he mentions, he means that
he observed certain good qualities in them, or received certain
benefits from them, and it is implied that he was the better
for it, or at least might have been: for it would be a mistake
to understand Marcus as saying that he possessed all the
virtues which he observed in his kinsmen and teachers.
[B] His father's name was Annius Verus.
[C] His mother was Domitia Calvilla, named also Lucilla.
[D] Perhaps his mother's grandfather, Catilius Severus.
5. From my governor, 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
labor, 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.
6. From Diognetus,[A] not to busy myself about trifling things, and not
to give credit to what was said by miracle-workers and jugglers about
incantations and the driving away of daemons and such things; and not to
breed quails [for fighting], nor to give myself up passionately to such
things; and to endure freedom of speech; and to have become intimate
with philosophy; and to have been a hearer, first of Bacchius, then of
Tandasis and Marcianus; and to have written dialogues in my youth; and
to have desired a plank bed and skin, and whatever else of the kind
belongs to the Grecian discipline.
[A] In the works of Justinus there is printed a letter to one
Diognetus, whom the writer names "most excellent." He was a
Gentile, but he wished very much to know what the religion of
the Christians was, what God they worshipped, and how this
worship made them despise the world and death, and neither
believe in the gods of the Greeks nor observe the superstition
of the Jews; and what was this love to one another which they
had, and why this new kind of religion was introduced now and
not before. My friend Mr. Jenkins, rector of Lyminge in Kent,
has suggested to me that this Diognetus may have been the tutor
of M. Antoninus.
7. From Rusticus[A] I received the impression that my character required
improvement and discipline; and from him I learned not to be led astray
to sophistic emulation, nor to writing on speculative matters, nor to
delivering little hortatory orations, nor to showing myself off as a man
who practises much discipline, or does benevolent acts in order to make
a display; and to abstain from rhetoric, and poetry, and fine writing;
and not to walk about in the house in my outdoor dress, nor to do other
things of the kind; and to write my letters with simplicity, like the
letter which Rusticus wrote from Sinuessa to my mother; and with respect
to those who have offended me by words, or done me wrong, to be easily
disposed to be pacified and reconciled, as soon as they have shown a
readiness 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
being acquainted with the discourses of Epictetus, which he communicated
to me out of his own collection.
[A] Q. Junius Rusticus was a Stoic philosopher, whom Antoninus
valued highly, and often took his advice (Capitol. _M. Antonin_.
iii).
Antoninus says, [Greek: tois Epiktêteiois hypomnêmasin] which
must not be translated, "the writings of Epictetus," for
Epictetus wrote nothing. His pupil Arrian, who has preserved
for us all that we know of Epictetus, says, [Greek: tauta
epeirathên hypomnêmata emautô diaphylaxai tês ekeinou dianoias]
(_Ep. ad. Gell_.)
8. From Apollonius[A] I learned freedom of will and undeviating
steadiness of purpose; and to look to nothing else, not even for a
moment, except to reason; and to be always the same, in sharp pains, on
the occasion of the loss of a child, and in long illness; and to see
clearly in a living example that the same man can be both most resolute
and yielding, and not peevish in giving his instruction; and to have 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 esteemed
favors, without being either humbled by them or letting them pass
unnoticed.
[A] Apollonius of Chalcis came to Rome in the time of Pius to
be Marcus' preceptor. He was a rigid Stoic.
9. From Sextus,[A] a benevolent disposition, and the example of a
family governed in a fatherly manner, and the idea of living conformably
to nature; and gravity without affectation, and to look carefully after
the interests of friends, and to tolerate ignorant persons, and those
who form opinions without consideration:+ he had the power of readily
accommodating himself to all, so that intercourse with him was more
agreeable than any flattery; and at the same time he was most highly
venerated by those who associated with him: and he had the faculty both
of discovery and ordering, in an intelligent and methodical way, the
principles necessary for life; 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
much knowledge without ostentation.
10. From Alexander[B] the grammarian, to refrain from fault-finding, and
not in a reproachful way to chide those who uttered any barbarous or
solecistic or strange-sounding expression; but dexterously to introduce
the very expression which ought to have been used, and in the way of
answer or giving confirmation, or joining in an inquiry about the thing
itself, not about the word, or by some other fit suggestion.
11. From Fronto[C] 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 Platonic, not frequently nor without necessity to
say to any one, or to write in a letter, that I have no leisure; nor
continually to excuse the neglect of duties required by our relation to
those with whom we live, by alleging urgent occupations.
13. From Catulus[D] not to be indifferent when a friend finds fault,
even if he should find fault without reason, but to try to restore him
to his usual disposition; and to be ready to speak well of teachers, as
it is reported of Domitius and Athenodotus; and to love my children
truly.
[A] Sextus of Chaeronea, a grandson of Plutarch, or nephew, as
some say; but more probably a grandson.
[B] Alexander was a Grammaticus, a native of Phrygia. He wrote
a commentary on Homer; and the rhetorician Aristides wrote a
panegyric on Alexander in a funeral oration.
[C] M. Cornelius Fronto was a rhetorician, and in great favor
with Marcus. There are extant various letters between Marcus
and Fronto.
[D] Cinna Catulus, a Stoic philosopher.
14. From my brother[A] 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;[B] and from him I received the idea of a polity in
which there is the same law for all, a polity 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
opinions with respect to 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.
[A] The word brother may not be genuine. Antoninus had no
brother. It has been supposed that he may mean some cousin.
Schultz in his translation omits "brother," and says that this
Severus is probably Claudius Severus, a peripatetic.
[B] We know, from Tacitus (_Annal._ xiii., xvi. 21; and other
passages), who Thrasea and Helvidius were. Plutarch has written
the lives of the two Catos, and of Dion and Brutus. Antoninus
probably alludes to Cato of Utica, who was a Stoic.
15. From Maximus[A] 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 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 beneficence, 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.+
[A] Claudius Maximus was a Stoic philosopher, who was highly
esteemed also by Antoninus Pius, Marcus' predecessor. The
character of Maximus is that of a perfect man. (See viii. 25.)
16. In my father[A] I observed mildness of temper, and unchangeable
resolution in the things which he had determined after due deliberation;
and no vain-glory in those things which men call honors; and a love of
labor and perseverance; and a readiness to listen to those who had
anything to propose for the common weal; and undeviating firmness in
giving to every man according to his deserts; and a knowledge derived
from experience of the occasions for vigorous action and for remission.
And I observed that he had overcome all passion for boys; and he
considered himself no more than any other citizen;[B] and he released
his friends from all obligation to sup with him or to attend him of
necessity when he went abroad, and those who had failed to accompany
him, by reason of any urgent circumstances, always found him the same. I
observed too his habit of careful inquiry in all matters of
deliberation, and his persistency, and that he never stopped his
investigation through being satisfied with appearances which first
present themselves; 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 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, nor love of novelty. And the things
which conduce in any way to the commodity 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 [home-bred] flippant slave or a
pedant; but every one 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 he 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 most
ready to give without envy to those who possessed any particular
faculty, such as that of eloquence or knowledge of the law or of morals,
or of anything else; and he gave them his help, that each might enjoy
reputation according to his deserts; and he always acted conformably to
the institutions of his country, without showing any affectation of
doing so. Further, he was not fond of change nor unsteady, but he loved
to stay in the same places, and to employ himself about the same things;
and after his paroxysms of headache he came immediately fresh and
vigorous to his usual occupations. His secrets were not many, but very
few and very rare, and these only about public matters; and he showed
prudence and economy in the exhibition of the public spectacles and the
construction of public buildings, his donations to the people, and in
such things, for he was a man who looked to what ought to be done, not
to the reputation which is got by a man's acts. He did not take the bath
at unseasonable hours; he was not fond of building houses, nor curious
about what he ate, nor about the texture and color of his clothes, nor
about the beauty of his slaves.[C] His dress came from Lorium, his villa
on the coast, and from Lanuvium generally.[D] We know how he behaved to
the toll-collector at Tusculum who asked his pardon; and such was all
his behavior. There was in him nothing harsh, nor implacable, nor
violent, nor, as one may say, anything carried to the sweating point;
but he examined all things severally, as if he had abundance of time,
and without confusion, in an orderly way, vigorously and consistently.
And that might be applied to him which is recorded of Socrates,[E] that
he was able both to abstain from, and to enjoy, those things which many
are too weak to abstain from, and cannot enjoy without excess. But to be
strong enough both to bear the one and to be sober in the other is the
mark of a man who has a perfect and invincible soul, such as he showed
in the illness of Maximus.
[A] He means his adoptive father, his predecessor, the Emperor
Antoninus Pius. Compare vi. 30.
[B] He uses the word [Greek: koinonoêmosunê]. See Gataker's
note.
[C] This passage is corrupt, and the exact meaning is
uncertain.
[D] Lorium was a villa on the coast north of Rome, and there
Antoninus was brought up, and he died there. This also is
corrupt.
[E] Xenophon, Memorab. i. 3, 15.
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 hurried into any offence against any of them, though I had a
disposition which, if opportunity had offered, might have led me to do
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 concubine, 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 father
who was able to take away all pride from me, and to bring me to the
knowledge that it is possible for a man to live in a palace without
wanting either guards or embroidered dresses, or torches and statues,
and such-like show; but that it is in such a man's power to bring
himself very near to the fashion of a private person, without being for
this reason either meaner in thought, or more remiss in action, with
respect to the things which must be done for the public interest in a
manner that befits a ruler. I thank the gods for giving me such a
brother,[A] 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 nor deformed in body;
that I did not make more proficiency 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 made haste to place
those who brought me up in the station of honor, which they seemed to
desire, without putting them off with hope of my doing it some other
time after, because they were then still young; that I knew Apollonius,
Rusticus, Maximus; that I received clear and frequent impressions about
living according to nature, and what kind of a life that is, so that, so
far as depended on the gods, and their gifts, and help, and
inspirations, nothing hindered me from forthwith 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 direct instructions; 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 amatory passions, 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
same necessity never happened, to receive anything from another; that I
have such a wife,[B] 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, both others, and against bloodspitting
and giddiness[C]...; 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 writers [of histories], or in the resolution of syllogisms,
or occupy myself about the investigation of appearances in the heavens;
for all these things require the help of the gods and fortune.
Among the Quadi at the Granua.[D]
[A] The emperor had no brother except L. Verus, his brother by
adoption.
[B] See the _Life of Antoninus_.
[C] This is corrupt.
[D] The Quadi lived in the southern part of Bohemia and
Moravia; and Antoninus made a campaign against them. (See the
_Life_.) Granua is probably the river Graan, which flows into
the Danube.
If these words are genuine, Antoninus may have written this
first book during the war with the Quadi. In the first edition
of Antoninus, and in the older editions, the first three
sections of the second book make the conclusion of the first
book. Gataker placed them at the beginning of the second book.
II.
Begin the morning by saying to thyself, 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 me; not [only] of the same blood or seed, but that it
participates in [the same] intelligence and [the same] portion of the
divinity, I can neither be injured by any of them, for no one can fix on
me what is ugly, nor can I be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him. For
we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like
the rows of the upper and lower teeth.[A] To act against one another,
then, is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be
vexed and to turn away.
[A] Xenophon, Mem. ii. 3. 18.
2. Whatever this is that I am, it is a little flesh and breath, and the
ruling part. Throw away thy books; no longer distract thyself: it is not
allowed; but as if thou wast now dying, despise the flesh; it is blood
and bones and network, a contexture 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, then, is
the ruling part; consider thus: Thou art an old man; no longer let this
be a slave, no longer be pulled by the strings like a puppet to unsocial
movements, no longer be either dissatisfied with thy present lot, or
shrink from the future.
3. All that is from the gods is full of providence. That which is from
fortune is not separated from nature or without an interweaving and
involution with the things which are ordered by providence. From thence
all things flow; and there is besides necessity, and that which is for
the advantage of the whole universe, of which thou art a part. But that
is good for every part of nature which the nature of the whole brings,
and what serves to maintain this nature. Now the universe is preserved,
as by the changes of the elements so by the changes of things compounded
of the elements. Let these principles be enough for thee; let them
always be fixed opinions. But cast away the thirst after books, that
thou mayest not die murmuring, but cheerfully, truly, and from thy heart
thankful to the gods.
4. Remember how long thou hast been putting off these things, and how
often thou hast received an opportunity from the gods, and yet dost not
use it. Thou must now at last perceive of what universe thou art a
part, and of what administrator of the universe thy existence is an
efflux, and that a limit of time is fixed for thee, which if thou dost
not use for clearing away the clouds from thy mind, it will go and thou
wilt go, and it will never return.
5. Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast
in hand with perfect and simple dignity, and feeling of affection, and
freedom, and justice, and to give thyself relief from all other
thoughts. And thou wilt give thyself relief if thou doest every act of
thy life as if it were the last, laying aside all carelessness and
passionate aversion from the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, and
self-love, and discontent with the portion which has been given to thee.
Thou seest how few the things are, the which if a man lays hold of, he
is able to live a life which flows in quiet, and is like the existence
of the gods; for the gods on their part will require nothing more from
him who observes these things.
6. Do wrong[A] to thyself, do wrong to thyself, my soul; but thou wilt
no longer have the opportunity of honoring thyself. Every man's life is
sufficient.+ But thine is nearly finished, though thy soul reverences
not itself, but places thy felicity in the souls of others.
[A] Perhaps it should be, "thou art doing violence to thyself."
[Greek: hybrizeis] not [Greek: hybrize].
7. Do the things external which fall upon thee distract thee? Give
thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled
around. But then thou must also avoid being carried about the other way;
for those too are triflers who have wearied themselves in life by their
activity, and yet have no object to which to direct every movement, and,
in a word, all their thoughts.
8. Through not observing what is in the mind of another a man has seldom
been seen to be unhappy; but those who do not observe the movements of
their own minds must of necessity be unhappy.
9. This thou 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
a part it is of what kind of a whole, and that there is no one who
hinders thee from always doing and saying the things which are according
to the nature of which thou art a part.
10. Theophrastus, in his comparison of bad acts--such a comparison as
one would make in accordance with the common notions of mankind--says,
like a true philosopher, that the offenses which are committed through
desire are more blamable than those which are committed through anger.
For he who is excited by anger seems to turn away from reason with a
certain pain and unconscious contraction; but he who offends through
desire, being overpowered by pleasure, seems to be in a manner more
intemperate and more womanish in his offences. Rightly, then, and in a
way worthy of philosophy, he said that the offence which is committed
with pleasure is more blamable than that which is committed with pain;
and on the whole the one is more like a person who has been first
wronged and through pain is compelled to be angry, but the other is
moved by his own impulse to do wrong, being carried towards doing
something by desire.
11. Since it is possible[A] that thou mayest depart from life this very
moment, regulate every act and thought accordingly.[B] But to go away
from among men, if there are gods, is not a thing to be afraid of, for
the gods will not involve thee in evil; but if indeed they do not exist,
or if they have no concern about human affairs, what is it to me to 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 all the
means in man's power to enable him not to fall into real evils. And as
to the rest, if there was anything evil, they would have provided for
this also, that it should be altogether in a man's power not to fall
into it. Now that which does not make a man worse, how can it make a
man's life worse? But neither through ignorance, nor--having the
knowledge but not the power to guard against or correct these things, is
it possible that the nature of the universe has overlooked them; nor is
it possible that it has made so great a mistake, either through want of
power or want of skill, that good and evil should happen
indiscriminately to the good and the bad. But death certainly, and life,
honor and dishonor, pain and pleasure,--all these things equally happen
to good men and bad, being things which make us neither better nor
worse. Therefore they are neither good nor evil.
[A] Or it may mean, "since it is in thy power to depart;" which
gives a meaning somewhat different.
[B] See Cicero, Tuscul., i. 49.
12. How quickly all things disappear,--in the universe the bodies
themselves, but in time the remembrance of them. What is the nature of
all sensible things, and particularly those which attract with the bait
of pleasure or terrify by pain, or are noised abroad by vapory fame; how
worthless, and contemptible, and sordid, and perishable, and dead they
are,--all this it is the part of the intellectual faculty to observe. To
observe too who these are whose opinions and voices give reputation;
what death is, and the fact that, if a man looks at it in itself, and by
the abstractive power of reflection resolves into their parts all the
things which present themselves to the imagination in it, he will then
consider it to be nothing else than an operation of nature; and if any
one is afraid of an operation of nature, he is a child. This, however,
is not only an operation of nature, but it is also a thing which
conduces to the purposes of nature. To observe too how man comes near to
the Deity, and by what part of him, and when this part of man is so
disposed+ (vi. 28).
13. Nothing is more wretched than a man who traverses everything in a
round, and pries into the things beneath the earth, as the poet[A] says,
and seeks by conjecture what is in the minds of his neighbors, without
perceiving that it is sufficient to attend to the daemon within him, and
to reverence it sincerely. And reverence of the daemon consists in
keeping it pure from passion and thoughtlessness, and dissatisfaction
with what comes from gods and men. For the things from the gods merit
veneration for their excellence; and the things from men should be dear
to us by reason of kinship; and sometimes even, in a manner, they move
our pity by reason of men's ignorance of good and bad; this defect being
not less than that which deprives us of the power of distinguishing
things that are white and black.
[A] Pindar, in the Theaetetus of Plato. See xi. 1.
14. Though thou shouldest be going to live three thousand years and as
many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any
other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this
which he now loses. The longest and shortest are thus brought to the
same. For the present is the same to all, though that which perish is
not the same;+[A] and so that which is lost appears to be a mere
moment. For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a
man has not, how can any one take this from him? These two things then
thou must bear in mind; the one, that all things from eternity are of
like forms and come round in a circle, and that it makes no difference
whether a man shall see the same things during a hundred years, or two
hundred, or an infinite time; and the second, that the longest liver and
he who will die soonest lose just the same. For the present is the only
thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the
only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it
not.
[A] See Gataker's note.
15. Remember that all is opinion. For what was said by the Cynic Monimus
is manifest: and manifest too is the use of what was said, if a man
receives what may be got out of it 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, so far as
it can. For to be vexed at anything which happens is a separation of
ourselves from nature, in some part of which the natures of all other
things are contained. In the next place, the soul does violence to
itself when it turns away from any man, or even moves towards him with
the intention of injuring, such as are the souls of those who are angry.
In the third place, the soul does violence to itself when it is
overpowered by pleasure or by pain. Fourthly, when it plays a part, and
does or says anything insincerely and untruly. Fifthly, when it allows
any act of its own and any movement to be without an aim, and does
anything thoughtlessly and without considering what it is, it being
right that even the smallest things be done with reference to an end;
and the end of rational animals is to follow the reason and the law of
the most ancient city and polity.
17. Of human life the time is a point, and the substance is in a flux,
and the perception dull, and the composition of the whole body subject
to putrefaction, and the soul a whirl, and fortune hard to divine, and
fame a thing devoid of judgment. And, to say all in a word, everything
which belongs to the body is a stream, and what belongs to the soul is a
dream and vapor, and life is a warfare and a stranger's sojourn, and
after fame is oblivion. What then is that which is able to conduct a
man? One thing, and only one, philosophy. But this consists in keeping
the daemon within a man free from violence and unharmed, superior to
pains and pleasures, doing nothing without a purpose, nor yet falsely
and with hypocrisy, not feeling the need of another man's doing or not
doing anything; and besides, accepting all that happens, and all that
is allotted, as coming from thence, wherever it is, from whence he
himself came; and, finally, waiting for death with a cheerful mind, as
being nothing else than a dissolution of the elements of which every
living being is compounded. But if there is no harm to the elements
themselves in each continually changing into another, why should a man
have any apprehension about the change and dissolution of all the
elements? For it is according to nature, and nothing is evil which is
according to nature.
This in Carnuntum.[A]
[A] Carnuntum was a town of Pannonia, on the south side of the
Danube, about thirty miles east of Vindobona (Vienna).
Orosius (vii. 15) and Eutropius (viii. 13) say that Antoninus
remained three years at Carmuntum during his war with the
Marcomanni.
III.
We ought to consider not only that our life is daily wasting away and a
smaller part of it is left, but another thing also must be taken into
the account, that if a man should live longer, it is quite uncertain
whether the understanding will still continue sufficient for the
comprehension of things, and retain the power of contemplation which
strives to acquire the knowledge of the divine and the human. For if he
shall begin to fall into dotage, perspiration and nutrition and
imagination and appetite, and whatever else there is of the kind, will
not fail; but the power of making use of ourselves, and filling up the
measure of our duty, and clearly separating all appearances, and
considering whether a man should now depart from life, and whatever else
of the kind absolutely requires a disciplined reason,--all this is
already extinguished. We must make haste, then, not only because we are
daily nearer to death, but also because the conception of things and the
understanding of them cease first.
2. We ought to observe also that even the things which follow after the
things which are produced according to nature contain something pleasing
and attractive. For instance, when bread is baked some parts are split
at the surface, and these parts which thus open, and have a certain
fashion contrary to the purpose of the baker's art, are beautiful in a
manner, and in a peculiar way excite a desire for eating. And again,
figs, when they are quite ripe, gape open; and in the ripe olives the
very circumstance of their being near to rottenness adds a peculiar
beauty to the fruit. And the ears of corn bending down, and the lion's
eyebrows, and the foam which flows from the mouth of wild boars, and
many other things,--though they are far from being beautiful if a man
should examine them severally,--still, because they are consequent upon
the things which are formed by nature, help to adorn them, and they
please the mind; so that if a man should have a feeling and deeper
insight with respect to the things which are produced in the universe,
there is hardly one of those which follow by way of consequence which
will not seem to him to be in a manner disposed so as to give pleasure.
And so he will see even the real gaping jaws of wild beasts with no less
pleasure than those which painters and sculptors show by imitation; and
in an old woman and an old man he will be able to see a certain maturity
and comeliness; and the attractive loveliness of young persons he will
be able to look on with chaste eyes; and many such things will present
themselves, not pleasing to every man, but to him only who has become
truly familiar with Nature and her works.
3. Hippocrates, after curing many diseases, himself fell sick and died.
The Chaldaei foretold the deaths of many, and then fate caught them too.
Alexander and Pompeius, and Caius Caesar, after so often completely
destroying whole cities, and in battle cutting to pieces many ten
thousands of cavalry and infantry, themselves too at last departed from
life. Heraclitus, after so many speculations on the conflagration of the
universe, was filled with water internally and died smeared all over
with mud. And lice destroyed Democritus; and other lice killed Socrates.
What means all this? Thou hast embarked, thou hast made the voyage, thou
art come to shore; get out. If indeed to another life, there is no want
of gods, not even there; but if to a state without sensation, thou wilt
cease to be held by pains and pleasures, and to be a slave to the
vessel, which is as much inferior as that which serves it is superior:+
for the one is intelligence and deity; the other is earth and
corruption.
4. Do not waste the remainder of thy life in thoughts about others, when
thou dost not refer thy thoughts to some object of common utility. For
thou losest the opportunity of doing something else when thou hast such
thoughts as these,--What is such a person doing, and why, and what is he
saying, and what is he thinking of, and what is he contriving, and
whatever else of the kind makes us wander away from the observation of
our own ruling power. We ought then to check in the series of our
thoughts everything that is without a purpose and useless, but most of
all the over-curious feeling and the malignant; and a man should use
himself to think of those things only about which if one should suddenly
ask, What hast thou now in thy thoughts? with perfect openness thou
mightest immediately answer, This or That; so that from thy words it
should be plain that everything in thee is simple and benevolent, and
such as befits a social animal, and one that cares not for thoughts
about pleasure or sensual enjoyments at all, nor has any rivalry or envy
and suspicion, or anything else for which thou wouldst blush if thou
shouldst say that thou hadst it in thy mind. For the man who is such,
and no longer delays being among the number of the best, is like a
priest and minister of the gods, using too the [deity] which is planted
within him, which makes the man uncontaminated by pleasure, unharmed by
any pain, untouched by any insult, feeling no wrong, a fighter in the
noblest fight, one who cannot be overpowered by any passion, dyed deep
with justice, accepting with all his soul everything which happens and
is assigned to him as his portion; and not often, nor yet without great
necessity and for the general interest, imagining what another says, or
does, or thinks. For it is only what belongs to himself that he makes
the matter for his activity; and he constantly thinks of that which is
allotted to himself out of the sum total of things, and he makes his own
acts fair, and he is persuaded that his own portion is good. For the lot
which is assigned to each man is carried along with him and carries him
along with it.+ And he remembers also that every rational animal is his
kinsman, and that to care for all men is according to man's nature; and
a man should hold on to the opinion not of all, but of those only who
confessedly live according to nature. But as to those who live not so,
he always bears in mind what kind of men they are both at home and from
home, both by night and by day, and what they are, and with what men
they live an impure life. Accordingly, he does not value at all the
praise which comes from such men, since they are not even satisfied with
themselves.
5. Labor not unwillingly, nor without regard to the common interest, nor
without due consideration, nor with distraction; nor let studied
ornament set off thy thoughts, and be not either a man of many words, or
busy about too many things. And further, let the deity which is in thee
be the guardian of a living being, manly and of ripe age, and engaged in
matter political, and a Roman, and a ruler, who has taken his post like
a man waiting for the signal which summons him from life, and ready to
go, having need neither of oath nor of any man's testimony. Be cheerful
also, and seek not external help nor the tranquillity which others
give. A man then must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.
6. If thou findest in human life anything better than justice, truth,
temperance, fortitude, and, in a word, anything better than thy own
mind's self-satisfaction in the things which it enables thee to do
according to right reason, and in the condition that is assigned to thee
without thy own choice; if, I say, thou seest anything better than this,
turn to it with all thy soul, and enjoy that which thou hast found to be
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
animal. 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.
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 what art
thou discontented? With the badness of men? Recall to thy mind this
conclusion, that rational animals exist for one another, and that to
endure is a part of justice, and that men do wrong involuntarily; and
consider how many already, after mutual enmity, suspicion, hatred, and
fighting, have been stretched dead, reduced to ashes; and be quiet at
last.--But perhaps thou art dissatisfied with that which is assigned to
thee out of the universe.--Recall to thy recollection this alternative;
either there is providence or atoms [fortuitous concurrence of things];
or remember the arguments by which it has been proved that the world is
a kind of political community [and be quiet at last].--But perhaps
corporeal things will still fasten upon thee.--Consider then further
that the mind mingles not with the breath, whether moving gently or
violently, when it has once drawn itself apart and discovered its own
power, and think also of all that thou hast heard and assented to about
pain and pleasure [and be quiet at last].--But perhaps the desire of the
thing called fame will torment thee.--See how soon everything is
forgotten, and look at the chaos of infinite time on each side of [the
present], and the emptiness of applause, and the changeableness and want
of judgment in those who pretend to give praise, and the narrowness of
the space within which it is circumscribed [and be quiet at last]. For
the whole earth is a point, and how small a nook in it is this thy
dwelling, and how few are there in it, and what kind of people are they
who will praise thee.
This then remains: Remember to retire into this little territory of thy
own,[A] and above all do not distract or strain thyself, but be free,
and look at things as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as a
mortal. But among the things readiest to thy hand to which thou shalt
turn, let there be these, which are two. One is that things do not touch
the soul, for they are external and remain immovable; but our
perturbations come only from the opinion which is within. The other is
that all these things, which thou seest, change immediately and will no
longer be; and constantly bear in mind how many of these changes thou
hast already witnessed. The universe is transformation: life is opinion.
[A] Tecum habita, noris quam sit tibi curta
supellex.--_Perseus_, iv. 52.
4. If our intellectual part is common, the reason also, in respect of
which we are rational beings, is common: if this is so, common also is
the reason which commands us what to do, and what not to do; if this is
so, there is a common law also; if this is so, we are fellow-citizens;
if this is so, we are members of some political community; if this is
so, the world is in a manner a state.[A] For of what other common
political community will any one say that the whole human race are
members? And from thence, from this common political community, comes
also our very intellectual faculty and reasoning faculty and our
capacity for law; or whence do they come? For as my earthly part is a
portion given to me from certain earth, and that which is watery from
another element, and that which is hot and fiery from some peculiar
source (for nothing comes out of that which is nothing, as nothing also
returns to non-existence), so also the intellectual part comes from some
source.
[A] Compare Cicero De Legibus, i. 7.
5. Death is such as generation is, a mystery of nature; composition out
of the same elements, and a decomposition into the same; and altogether
not a thing of which any man should be ashamed, for it is not contrary
to [the nature of] a reasonable animal, and not contrary to the reason
of our constitution.
6. It is natural that these things should be done by such persons, it is
a matter of necessity; and if a man will not have it so, he will not
allow the fig-tree to have juice. But by all means bear this in mind,
that within a very short time both thou and he will be dead; and soon
not even your names will be left behind.
7. Take away thy opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, "I
have been harmed." Take away the complaint, "I have been harmed," and
the harm is taken away.
8. That which does not make a man worse than he was, also does not make
his life worse, nor does it harm him either from without or from within.
9. The nature of that which is [universally] useful has been compelled
to do this.
10. Consider that everything which happens, happens justly, and if thou
observest carefully, thou wilt find it to be so. I do not say only with
respect to the continuity of the series of things, but with respect to
what is just, and as if it were done by one who assigns to each thing
its value. Observe then as thou hast begun; and whatever thou doest, do
it in conjunction with this, the being good, and in the sense in which a
man is properly understood to be good. Keep to this in every action.
11. Do not have such an opinion of things as he has who does thee wrong,
or such as he wishes thee to have, but look at them as they are in
truth.
12. A man should always have these two rules in readiness; the one to do
only whatever the reason of the ruling and legislating faculty may
suggest for the use of men; the other, to change thy opinion, if there
is any one at hand who sets thee right and moves thee from any opinion.
But this change of opinion must proceed only from a certain persuasion,
as of what is just or of common advantage, and the like, not because it
appears pleasant or brings reputation.
13. Hast thou reason? I have.--Why then dost not thou use it? For if
this does its own work, what else dost thou wish?
14. Thou hast existed as a part. Thou shalt disappear in that which
produced thee; but rather thou shalt be received back into its seminal
principle by transmutation.
15. Many grains of frankincense on the same altar: one falls before,
another falls after; but it makes no difference.
16. Within ten days thou wilt seem a god to those to whom thou art now a
beast and an ape, if thou wilt return to thy principles and the worship
of reason.
17. Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death
hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy 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 to what he does himself, that
it may be just and pure; or, as Agathon+ says, look not round at the
depraved morals of others, but run straight along the line without
deviating from it.
19. He who has a vehement desire for posthumous fame does not consider
that every one of those who remember him will himself also die very
soon; then again also they who have succeeded them, until the whole
remembrance shall have been extinguished as it is transmitted through
men who foolishly admire and perish. But suppose that those who will
remember are even immortal, and that the remembrance will be immortal,
what then is this to thee? And I say not what is it to the dead, but
what is it to the living? What is praise, except + indeed so far as it
has + a certain utility? For thou now rejectest unseasonably the gift
of nature, clinging to something else ... +.
20. Everything which is in any way beautiful is beautiful in itself, and
terminates in itself, not having praise as part of itself. Neither worse
then nor better is a thing made by being praised. I affirm this also of
the things which are called beautiful by the vulgar, for example,
material things and works of art. That which is really beautiful has no
need of anything; not more than law, not more than truth, not more than
benevolence or modesty. Which of these things is beautiful because it
is praised, or spoiled by being blamed? Is such a thing as an emerald
made worse than it was, if it is not praised? or gold, ivory, purple, a
lyre, a little knife, a flower, a shrub?
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE PARTHENON]
21. If souls continue to exist, how does the air contain them from
eternity?--But how does the earth contain the bodies of those who have
been buried from time so remote? For as here the mutation of these
bodies after a certain continuance, whatever it may be, and their
dissolution, make room for other dead bodies, so the souls which are
removed into the air after subsisting for some time are transmuted and
diffused, and assume a fiery nature by being received into the seminal
intelligence of the universe, and in this way make room for the fresh
souls which come to dwell there. And this is the answer which a man
might give on the hypothesis of souls continuing to exist. But we must
not only think of the number of bodies which are thus buried, but also
of the number of animals which are daily eaten by us and the other
animals. For what a number is consumed, and thus in a manner buried in
the bodies of those who feed on them! And nevertheless this earth
receives them by reason of the changes [of these bodies] into blood, and
the transformations into the aerial or the fiery element.
What is the investigation into the truth in this matter? The division
into that which is material and that which is the cause of form [the
formal], (vii. 29.)
22. Do not be whirled about, but in every movement have respect to
justice, and on the occasion of every impression maintain the faculty of
comprehension [or understanding].
23. Everything harmonizes with me, which is harmonious to thee, O
Universe. Nothing for me is too early nor too late, which is in due time
for thee. Everything is fruit to me which thy seasons bring, O Nature:
from thee are all things, in thee are all things, to thee all things
return. The poet says, Dear city of Cecrops; and wilt not thou say, Dear
city of Zeus?
24. Occupy thyself with few things, says the philosopher, if thou
wouldst be tranquil.--But consider if it would not be better to say, Do
what is necessary, and whatever the reason of the animal which is
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 the greatest part of what we say and do being
unnecessary, if a man takes this away, he will have more leisure and
less uneasiness. Accordingly, on every occasion a man should ask
himself, Is this one of the unnecessary things? Now a man should take
away 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 thee, the life of him who is
satisfied with his portion out of the whole, and satisfied with his own
just acts and benevolent disposition.
26. Hast thou seen those things? Look also at these. Do not disturb
thyself. Make thyself all simplicity. Does any one do wrong? It is to
himself that he does the wrong. Has anything happened to thee? Well; out
of the universe from the beginning everything which happens has been
apportioned and spun out to thee. In a word, thy life is short. Thou
must turn to profit the present by the aid of reason and justice. Be
sober in thy relaxation.
27. Either it is a well-arranged universe[A] or a chaos huddled
together, but still a universe. But can a certain order subsist in thee,
and disorder in the All? And this too when all things are so separated
and diffused and sympathetic.
[A] Antoninus here uses the word [Greek: kosmos] both in the
sense of the Universe and of Order; and it is difficult to
express his meaning.
28. A black character, a womanish character, a stubborn character,
bestial, childish, animal, stupid, counterfeit, scurrilous, fraudulent,
tyrannical.
29. If he 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 social reason; he is blind, who shuts the eyes
of understanding; he is poor, who has need of another, and has not from
himself all things which are useful for life. He is an abscess on the
universe who withdraws and separates himself from the reason of our
common nature through being displeased with the things which happen, for
the same nature produces this, and has produced thee too: he is a piece
rent asunder from the state, who tears, his own soul from that of
reasonable animals, which is one.
30. The one is a philosopher without a tunic, and the other without a
book: here is another half naked: Bread I have not, he says, and I abide
by reason--and I do not get the means of living out of my learning, +
and I abide [by my reason].
31. Love the art, poor as it may be, which thou hast learned, and be
content with it; and pass through the rest of life like one who has
intrusted to the gods with his whole soul all that he has, making
thyself neither the tyrant nor the slave of any man.
32. Consider, for example, the times of Vespasian. Thou wilt see all
these things, people marrying, bringing up children, sick, dying,
warring, feasting, trafficking, cultivating the ground, flattering,
obstinately arrogant, suspecting, plotting, wishing for some to die,
grumbling about the present, loving, heaping up treasure, desiring
consulship, kingly power. Well, then, that life of these people no
longer exists at all. Again, remove to the times of Trajan. Again, all
is the same. Their life too is gone. In like manner view also the other
epochs of time and of whole nations, and see how many after great
efforts soon fell and were resolved into the elements. But chiefly thou
shouldst think of those whom thou hast thyself known distracting
themselves about idle things, neglecting to do what was in accordance
with their proper constitution, and to hold firmly to this and to be
content with it. And herein it is necessary to remember that the
attention given to everything has its proper value and proportion. For
thus thou wilt not be dissatisfied, if thou appliest thyself to smaller
matters no further than is fit.
33. The words which were formerly familiar are now antiquated: so also
the names of those who were famed of old, are now in a manner
antiquated, Camillus, Caeso, Volesus, Leonnatus, and a little after also
Scipio and Cato, then Augustus, then also Hadrianus and Antoninus. For
all things soon pass away and become a mere tale, and complete oblivion
soon buries them. And I say this of those who have shone in a wondrous
way. For the rest, as soon as they have breathed out their breath they
are gone, and no man speaks of them. And, to conclude the matter, what
is even an eternal remembrance? A mere nothing. What then is that about
which we ought to employ our serious pains? This one thing, thoughts
just, and acts social, and words which never lie, and a disposition
which gladly accepts all that happens, as necessary, as usual, as
flowing from a principle and source of the same kind.
34. Willingly give thyself up to Clotho [one of the fates], allowing her
to spin thy thread + into whatever things she pleases.
35. Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that
which is remembered.
36. Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and
accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the universe loves
nothing so much as to change the things which are and to make new things
like them. For everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that
which will be. But thou art thinking only of seeds which are cast into
the earth or into a womb: but this is a very vulgar notion.
37. Thou wilt soon die, and thou art not yet simple, nor free from
perturbations, nor without suspicion of being hurt by external things,
nor kindly disposed towards all; nor dost thou yet place wisdom only in
acting justly.
38. Examine men's ruling principles, even those of the wise, what kind
of things they avoid, and what kind they pursue.
39. What is evil to thee does not subsist in the ruling principle of
another; nor yet in any turning and mutation of thy corporeal covering.
Where is it then? It is in that part of thee in which subsists the power
of forming opinions about evils. Let this power then not form [such]
opinions, and all is well. And 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 these things be quiet; that is, let
it judge that nothing is either bad or good which can happen equally to
the bad man and the good. For that which happens equally to him who
lives contrary to nature and to him who lives according to nature, is
neither according to nature nor contrary to nature.
40. Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one
substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one
perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things
act with one movement; and how all things are the co-operating causes of
all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the
thread and the contexture of the web.
41. Thou art a little soul bearing about a corpse, as Epictetus used to
say (i. c. 19).
42. It is no evil for things to undergo change, and no good for things
to subsist in consequence of change.
43. Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a
violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried
away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too.
44. Everything which happens is as familiar and well known as the rose
in spring and the fruit in summer; for such is disease, and death, and
calumny, and treachery, and whatever else delights fools or vexes them.
45. In the series of things, those which follow are always aptly fitted
to those which have gone before: for this series is not like a mere
enumeration of disjointed things, which has only a necessary sequence,
but it is a rational connection: and as all existing things are arranged
together harmoniously, so the things which come into existence exhibit
no mere succession, but a certain wonderful relationship (vi. 38; vii.
9; vii. 75, note).
46. Always remember the saying of Heraclitus, that the death of earth is
to become water, and the death of water is to become air, and the death
of air is to become fire, and reversely. And think too of him who
forgets whither the way leads, and that men quarrel with that with which
they are most constantly in communion, the reason which governs the
universe; and the things which they daily meet with seem to them
strange: and consider that we ought not to act and speak as if we were
asleep, for even in sleep we seem to act and speak; and that + we ought
not, like children who learn from their parents, simply to act and speak
as we have been taught. +
47. If any god told thee that thou shalt die to-morrow, or certainly on
the day after to-morrow, thou wouldst not care much whether it was on
the third day or on the morrow, unless thou wast in the highest degree
mean-spirited; for how small is the difference! So think it no great
thing to die after as many years as thou canst name rather than
to-morrow.
48. Think continually how many physicians are dead after often
contracting their eyebrows over the sick; and how many astrologers after
predicting with great pretensions the deaths of others; and how many
philosophers after endless discourses on death or immortality; how many
heroes after killing thousands; and how many tyrants who have used their
power over men's lives with terrible insolence, as if they were
immortal; and how many cities are entirely dead, so to speak, Helice[A]
and Pompeii and Herculaneum, and others innumerable. Add to the
reckoning all whom thou hast known, one after another. One man after
burying another has been laid out dead, and another buries him; and all
this in a short time. To conclude, always observe how ephemeral and
worthless human things are, and what was yesterday a little mucus,
to-morrow will be a mummy or ashes. Pass then through this little space
of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, as an
olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and
thanking the tree on which it grew.
[A] Ovid, Met. xv. 293:--
"Si quaeras Helicen et Burin Achaidas urbes,
Invenies sub aquis."
49. Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break,
but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.
Unhappy am I because this has happened to me? Not so, but happy am I,
though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain,
neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future. For such a thing
as this might have happened to every man; but every man would not have
continued free from pain on such an occasion. Why then is that rather a
misfortune than this a good fortune? And dost thou in all cases call
that a man's misfortune which is not a deviation from man's nature? And
does a thing seem to thee to be a deviation from man's nature, when it
is not contrary to the will of man's nature? Well, thou knowest the will
of nature. Will then this which has happened prevent thee from being
just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, secure against inconsiderate
opinions and falsehood; will it prevent thee from having modesty,
freedom, and everything else, by the presence of which man's nature
obtains all that is its own? Remember too on every occasion which leads
thee to vexation to apply this principle; not that this is a misfortune,
but that to bear it nobly is good fortune.
50. It is a vulgar, but still a useful help towards contempt of death,
to pass in review those who have tenaciously stuck to life. What more
then have they gained than those who have died early? Certainly they
lie in their tombs somewhere at last, Cadicianus, Fabius, Julianus,
Lepidus, or any one else like them, who have carried out many to be
buried, and then were carried out themselves. Altogether the interval is
small [between birth and death]; and consider with how much trouble, and
in company with what sort of people, 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 thee, and to the time
which is before thee, another boundless space. In this infinity then
what is the difference between him who lives three days and him who
lives three generations?[A]
[A] An allusion to Homer's Nestor, who was living at the war of
Troy among the third generation, like old Parr with his hundred
and fifty-two years, and some others in modern times who have
beaten Parr by twenty or thirty years if it is true; and yet
they died at last. The word is [Greek: trigerêniou] in
Antoninus. Nestor is named [Greek: trigerôn] by some writers;
but here perhaps there is an allusion to Homer's [Greek:
Gerênios hippota Nestôr].
51. Always run to the short way; and the short way is the natural:
accordingly say and do everything in conformity with the soundest
reason. For such a purpose frees a man from trouble,+ and warfare, and
all artifice and ostentatious display.
V.
In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be
present,--I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I
dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for
which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie
in the bed-clothes and keep myself warm?--But this is more
pleasant.--Dost thou exist then to take thy pleasure, and not at all for
action or exertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, the little
birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees working together to put in order
their several parts of the universe? And art thou unwilling to do the
work of a human being, and dost thou not make haste to do that which, is
according to thy nature? But it is necessary to take rest also.--It is
necessary. However, Nature has fixed bounds to this too: she has fixed
bounds to eating and drinking, and yet thou goest beyond these bounds,
beyond what is sufficient; yet in thy acts it is not so, but thou
stoppest short of what thou canst do. So thou lovest not thyself, for if
thou didst, thou wouldst love thy nature and her will. But those who
love their several arts exhaust themselves in working at them unwashed
and without food; but thou valuest thy own nature less than the turner
values the turning art, or the dancer the dancing art, or the lover of
money values his money, or the vain-glorious man his little glory. And
such men, when they have a violent affection to a thing, choose neither
to eat nor to sleep rather than to perfect the things which they care
for. But are the acts which concern society more vile in thy eyes and
less worthy of thy labor?
2. How easy it is to repel and to wipe away every impression which is
troublesome or unsuitable, and immediately to be in all tranquillity.
3. Judge every word and deed which are according to nature to be fit for
thee; and be not diverted by the blame which follows from any people,
nor by their words, but if a thing is good to be done or said, do not
consider it unworthy of thee. For those persons have their peculiar
leading principle and follow their peculiar movement; which things do
not thou regard, but go straight on, following thy own nature and the
common nature; and the way of both is one.
4. I go through the things which happen according to nature until I
shall fall and rest, breathing out my breath into that element out of
which I daily draw it in, and falling upon that earth out of which my
father collected the seed, and my mother the blood, and my nurse the
milk; out of which during so many years I have been supplied with food
and drink; which bears me when I tread on it and abuse it for so many
purposes.
5. Thou sayest, Men cannot admire the sharpness of thy wits.--Be it so:
but there are many other things of which thou canst not say, I am not
formed from them by nature. Show those qualities then which are
altogether in thy power, sincerity, gravity, endurance of labor,
aversion to pleasure, contentment with thy portion and with few things,
benevolence, frankness, no love of superfluity, freedom from trifling,
magnanimity. Dost thou not see how many qualities thou art immediately
able to exhibit, in which there is no excuse of natural incapacity and
unfitness, and yet thou still remainest voluntarily below the mark? or
art thou compelled through being defectively furnished by nature to
murmur, and to be stingy, and to flatter, and to find fault with thy
poor body, and to try to please men, and to make great display, and to
be so restless in thy mind? No, by the gods; but thou mightest have been
delivered from these things long ago. Only if in truth thou canst be
charged with being rather slow and dull of comprehension, thou must
exert thyself about this also, not neglecting it nor yet taking pleasure
in thy dullness.
6. One man, when he has done a service to another, is ready to set it
down to his account as a favor conferred. Another is not ready to do
this, but still in his own mind he thinks of the man as his debtor, and
he knows what he has done. A third in a manner does not even know what
he has done, but he is like a vine which has produced grapes, and seeks
for nothing more after it has once produced its proper fruit. As a horse
when he has run, a dog when he has tackled the game, a bee when it has
made the honey, so a man when he has done a good act does not call out
for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine
goes on to produce again the grapes in season.--Must a man then be one
of these, who in a manner act thus without observing it?--Yes.--But this
very thing is necessary, the observation of what a man is doing: for, it
may be said, it is characteristic of the social animal to perceive that
he is working in a social manner, and indeed to wish that his social
partner also should perceive it.--It is true that thou sayest, but thou
dost not rightly understand what is now said: and for this reason thou
wilt become one of those of whom I spoke before, for even they are
misled by a certain show of reason. But if thou wilt choose to
understand the meaning of what is said, do not fear that for this reason
thou wilt omit any social act.
7. A prayer of the Athenians: Rain, rain, O dear Zeus, down on the
ploughed fields of the Athenians and on the plains.--In truth we ought
not to pray at all, or we ought to pray in this simple and noble
fashion.
8. Just as we must understand when it is said, That Aesculapius
prescribed to this man horse-exercise, or bathing in cold water, or
going without shoes, so we must understand it when it is said, That the
nature of the universe prescribed to this man disease, or mutilation, or
loss, or anything else of the kind. For in the first case Prescribed
means something like this: he prescribed this for this man as a thing
adapted to procure health; and in the second case it means, That which
happens[A] to [or suits] every man is fixed in a manner for him suitably
to his destiny. For this is what we mean when we say that things are
suitable to us, as the workmen say of squared stones in walls or the
pyramids, that they are suitable, when they fit them to one another in
some kind of connection. For there is altogether one fitness [harmony].
And as the universe is made up out of all bodies to be such a body as it
is, so out of all existing causes necessity [destiny] is made up to be
such a cause as it is. And even those who are completely ignorant
understand what I mean; for they say, It [necessity, destiny] brought
this to such a person.--This then was brought and this was prescribed to
him. Let us then receive these things, as well as those which
Aesculapius prescribes. Many as a matter of course even among his
prescriptions are disagreeable, but we accept them in the hope of
health. Let the perfecting and accomplishment of the things which the
common nature judges to be good, be judged by thee to be of the same
kind as thy health. And so accept everything which happens, even if it
seem disagreeable, because it leads to this, to the health of the
universe and to the prosperity and felicity of Zeus [the universe]. 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 directed
by it. For two reasons then it is right to be content with that which
happens to thee; the one, because it was done for thee and prescribed
for thee, and in a manner had reference to thee, originally from the
most ancient causes spun with thy destiny; and the other, because even
that which comes severally to every man is to the power which
administers the universe a cause of felicity and perfection, nay even of
its very continuance. For the integrity of the whole is mutilated, if
thou cuttest off anything whatever from the conjunction and the
continuity either of the parts or of the causes. And thou dost cut off,
as far as it is in thy power, when thou art dissatisfied, and in a
manner triest to put anything out of the way.
[A] In this section there is a play on the meaning of [Greek:
sumbainein].
[Illustration: THE CAPITOL AND TEMPLE OF JUPITER]
9. Be not disgusted, nor discouraged, nor dissatisfied, if thou dost not
succeed in doing everything according to right principles, but when
thou hast failed, return back again, and be content if the greater part
of what thou doest is consistent with man's nature, and love this to
which thou returnest; and do not return to philosophy as if she were a
master, but act like those who have sore eyes and apply a bit of sponge
and egg, or as another applies a plaster, or drenching with water. For
thus thou wilt not fail to + obey reason, and thou wilt repose in it.
And remember that philosophy requires only things which thy nature
requires; but thou wouldst have something else which is not according to
nature.--It may be objected, Why, what is more agreeable than this
[which I am doing]? But is not this the very reason why pleasure
deceives us? And consider if magnanimity, freedom, simplicity,
equanimity, piety, are not more agreeable. For what is more agreeable
than wisdom itself, when thou thinkest of the security and the happy
course of all things which depend on the faculty of understanding and
knowledge?
10. Things are in such a kind of envelopment that they have seemed to
philosophers, not a few nor those common philosophers, altogether
unintelligible; nay even to the Stoics themselves they seem difficult to
understand. And all our assent is changeable; for where is the man who
never changes? Carry thy thoughts then to the objects themselves, and
consider how short-lived they are and worthless, and that they may be in
the possession of a filthy wretch or a whore or a robber. Then turn to
the morals of those who live with thee, and it is hardly possible to
endure even the most agreeable of them, to say nothing of a man being
hardly able to endure himself. In such darkness then and dirt, and in so
constant a flux both of substance and of time, and of motion and of
things moved, what there is worth being highly prized, or even an object
of serious pursuit, I cannot imagine. But on the contrary it is a man's
duty to comfort himself, and to wait for the natural dissolution, and
not to be vexed at the delay, but to rest in these principles only: the
one, that nothing will happen to me which is not conformable to the
nature of the universe; and the other, that it is in my power never to
act contrary to my god and daemon: for there is no man who will compel
me to this.
11. About what am I now employing my own soul? On every occasion I must
ask myself this question, and inquire, What have I now in this part of
me which they call the ruling principle? and whose soul have I
now,--that of a child, or of a young man, or of a feeble woman, or of a
tyrant, or of a domestic animal, or of a wild beast?
12. What kind of things those are which appear good to the many, we may
learn even from this. For if any man should conceive certain things as
being really good, such as prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude, he
would not after having first conceived these endure to listen to
anything+ which should not be in harmony with what is really good.+ But
if a man has first conceived as good the things which appear to the many
to be good, he will listen and readily receive as very applicable that
which was said by the comic writer. +Thus even the many perceive the
difference.+ For were it not so, this saying would not offend and would
not be rejected [in the first case], while we receive it when it is said
of wealth, and of the means which further luxury and fame, as said fitly
and wittily. Go on then and ask if we should value and think those
things to be good, to which after their first conception in the mind the
words of the comic writer might be aptly applied,--that he who has them,
through pure abundance has not a place to ease himself in.
13. I am composed of the formal and the material; and neither of them
will perish into non-existence, as neither of them came into existence
out of non-existence. Every part of me then will be reduced by change
into some part of the universe, and that again will change into another
part of the universe, and so on forever. And by consequence of such a
change I too exist, and those who begot me, and so on forever in the
other direction. For nothing hinders us from saying so, even if the
universe is administered according to definite periods [of revolution].
14. Reason and the reasoning art [philosophy] are powers which are
sufficient for themselves and for their own works. They move then from a
first principle which is their own, and they make their way to the end
which is proposed to them; and this is the reason why such acts are
named Catorthoseis or right acts, which word signifies that they proceed
by the right road.
15. None of these things ought to be called a man's, which do not belong
to a man, as man. They are not required of a man, nor does man's nature
promise them, nor are they the means of man's nature attaining its end.
Neither then does the end of man lie in these things, nor yet that which
aids to the accomplishment of this end, and that which aids toward this
end is that which is good. Besides, if any of these things did belong to
man, it would not be right for a man to despise them and to set himself
against them; nor would a man be worthy of praise who snowed that he did
not want these things, nor would he who stinted himself in any 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 even
when he is deprived of any of them, the more patiently he endures the
loss, just in the same degree he is a better man.
16. Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character
of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then with a
continuous series of such thoughts as these: for instance, that where a
man can live, there he can also live well. But he must live in a palace;
well then, he can also live well in a palace. And again, consider that
for whatever purpose each thing has been constituted, for this it has
been constituted, and towards this it is carried; and its end is in that
towards which it is carried; and where the end is, there also is the
advantage and the good of each thing. Now the good for the reasonable
animal is society; for that we are made for society has been shown
above.[A] Is it not plain that the inferior exists for the sake of the
superior? But the things which have life are superior to those which
have not life, and of those which have life the superior are those which
have reason.
[A] ii. 1.
17. To seek what is impossible is madness: and it is impossible that the
bad should not do something of this kind.
18. Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear.
The same things happen to another, and either because he does not see
that they have happened, or because he would show a great spirit, he is
firm and remains unharmed. It is a shame then that ignorance and conceit
should be stronger than wisdom.
19. Things themselves touch not 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, and whatever judgments it may
think proper to make, such it makes for itself the things which present
themselves to it.
20. In one respect man is the nearest thing to me, so far as I must do
good to men and endure them. But so far as some men make themselves
obstacles to my proper acts, man becomes to me one of the things which
are indifferent, no less than the sun or wind or a wild beast. Now it is
true that these may impede my action, but they are no impediments to my
affects and disposition, which have the power of acting conditionally
and changing: for the mind converts and changes every hindrance to its
activity into an aid; and so that which is a hindrance is made a
furtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle on the road helps
us on this road.
21. Reverence that which is best in the universe; and this is that which
makes use of all things and directs all things. And in like manner also
reverence that which is best in thyself; and this is of the same kind as
that. For in thyself also, that which makes use of everything else is
this, and thy life is directed by this.
22. That which does no harm to the state, does no harm to the citizen.
In the case of every appearance of harm apply this rule: if the state
is not harmed by this, neither am I harmed. But if the state is harmed,
thou must not be angry with him who does harm to the state. Show him
where his error is.
23. Often think of the rapidity with which things pass by and disappear,
both the things which are and the things which are produced. For
substance is like a river in a continual flow, and the activities of
things are in constant change, and the causes work in infinite
varieties; and there is hardly anything which stands still. And consider
this which is near to thee, this boundless abyss of the past and of the
future in which all things disappear. How then is he not a fool who is
puffed up with such things or plagued about them and makes himself
miserable? for they vex him only for a time, and a short time.
24. Think of the universal substance, of which thou hast a very small
portion; and of universal time, of which a short and indivisible
interval has been assigned to thee; and of that which is fixed by
destiny, and how small a part of it thou art.
25. Does another do me wrong? Let him look to it. He has his own
disposition, his own activity. I now have what the universal nature now
wills me to have; and I do what my nature now wills me to do.
26. Let the part of thy soul which leads and governs be undisturbed by
the movements in the flesh, whether of pleasure or of pain; and let it
not unite with them, but let it circumscribe itself and limit those
affects to their parts. But when these affects rise up to the mind by
virtue of that other sympathy that naturally exists in a body which is
all one, then thou must not strive to resist the sensation, for it is
natural: but let not the ruling part of itself add to the sensation the
opinion that it is either good or bad.
27. Live with the gods. And he does live with the gods who constantly
shows to them that his own soul is satisfied with that which is assigned
to him, and that it does all that the daemon wishes, which Zeus hath
given to every man for his guardian and guide, a portion of himself. And
this is every man's understanding and reason.
28. Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? art thou angry with him
whose mouth smells foul? What good will this anger do thee? He has such
a mouth, he has such armpits: it is necessary that such an emanation
must come from such things: but the man has reason, it will be said, and
he is able, if he takes pains, to discover wherein he offends; I wish
thee well of thy discovery. Well then, and thou hast reason: by thy
rational faculty stir up his rational faculty; show him his error,
admonish him. For if he listens, thou wilt cure him, and there is no
need of anger. [+ Neither tragic actor nor whore. +][A]
[A] This is imperfect or corrupt, or both. There is also
something wrong or incomplete in the beginning of S. 29, where
he says [Greek: hôs exelthôn zên dianoê], which Gataker
translates "as if thou wast about to quit life;" but we cannot
translate [Greek: exelthôn] in that way. Other translations are
not much more satisfactory. I have translated it literally and
left it imperfect.
29. As thou intendest to live when them art gone out, ... so it is in
thy power to live here. But if men do not permit thee, then get away out
of life, yet so as if thou wert suffering no harm. The house is smoky,
and I quit it.[A] Why dost thou think that this is any trouble? But so
long as nothing of the kind drives me out, I remain, am free, and no man
shall hinder me from doing what I choose; and I choose to do what is
according to the nature of the rational and social animal.
[A] Epictetus, i. 25, 18.
30. The intelligence of the universe is social. Accordingly it has made
the inferior things for the sake of the superior, and it has fitted the
superior to one another. Thou seest how it has subordinated,
co-ordinated, and assigned to everything its proper portion, and has
brought together into concord with one another the things which are the
best.
31. How hast thou behaved hitherto to the gods, thy parents, brethren,
children, teachers, to those who looked after thy infancy, to thy
friends, kinsfolk, to thy slaves? Consider if thou hast hitherto behaved
to all in such a way that this may be said of thee,--
"Never has wronged a man in deed or word."
And call to recollection both how many things thou hast passed through,
and how many things thou hast been able to endure, and that the history
of thy life is now complete and thy service is ended; and how many
beautiful things thou hast seen; and how many pleasures and pains thou
hast despised; and how many things called honorable thou hast spurned;
and to how many ill-minded folks thou hast shown a kind disposition.
32. Why do unskilled and ignorant souls disturb him who has skill and
knowledge? What soul then has skill and knowledge? That which knows
beginning and end, and knows the reason which pervades all substance,
and though all time by fixed periods [revolutions] administers the
universe.
33. Soon, very soon, thou wilt be ashes, or a skeleton, and either a
name or not even a name; but name is sound and echo. And the things
which are much valued in life are empty and rotten and trifling, and
[like] little dogs biting one another, and little 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.
HESIOD, _Works, etc_. v. 197.
What then is there which still detains thee here, if the objects of
sense are easily changed and never stand still, and the organs of
perception are dull and easily receive false impressions, and the poor
soul itself is an exhalation from blood? But to have good repute amid
such a world as this is an empty thing. Why then dost thou not wait in
tranquillity for thy end, whether it is extinction or removal to another
state? And until that time comes, what is sufficient? Why, what else
than to venerate the gods and bless them, and to do good to men, and to
practise tolerance and self-restraint;[A] but as to everything which is
beyond the limits of the poor flesh and breath, to remember that this is
neither thine nor in thy power.
[A] This is the Stoic precept [Greek: anechou kai apechou]. The
first part teaches us to be content with men and things as they
are. The second part teaches us the virtue of self-restraint,
or the government of our passions.
34. Thou canst pass thy life in an equable flow of happiness, if thou
canst go by the right way, and think and act in the right way. These two
things are common both to the soul of God and to the soul of man, and to
the soul of every rational being: not to be hindered by another; and to
hold good to consist in the disposition to justice and the practice of
it, and in this to let thy desire find its termination.
35. If this is neither my own badness, nor an effect of my own badness,
and the common weal is not injured, why am I troubled about it, and what
is the harm to the common weal?
36. Do not be carried along inconsiderately by the appearance of
things, but give help [to all] according to thy ability and their
fitness; and if they should have sustained loss in matters which are
indifferent, do not imagine this to be a damage; for it is a bad habit.
But as the old man, when he went away, asked back his foster-child's
top, remembering that it was a top, so do thou in this case also.
When thou art calling out on the Rostra, hast thou forgotten, man, what
these things are?--Yes; but they are objects of great concern to these
people--wilt thou too then be made a fool for these things? I was once a
fortunate man, but I lost it, I know not how.--But fortunate means that
a man has assigned to himself a good fortune: and a good fortune is good
disposition of the soul, good emotions, good actions.[A]
[A] This section is unintelligible. Many of the words may be
corrupt, and the general purport of the section cannot be
discovered. Perhaps several things have been improperly joined
in one section. I have translated it nearly literally.
Different translators give the section a different turn, and
the critics have tried to mend what they cannot understand.
VI.
The substance of the universe is obedient and compliant; and the reason
which governs it has in 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 according to this reason.
2. Let it make no difference to thee whether thou art cold or warm, if
thou art doing thy duty; and whether thou art drowsy or satisfied with
sleep; and whether ill-spoken of or praised; and whether dying or doing
something else. For it is one of the acts of life, this act by which we
die; it is sufficient then in this act also to do well what we have in
hand (vi. 22, 28).
3. Look within. Let neither the peculiar quality of anything nor its
value escape thee.
4. All existing things soon change, and they will either be reduced to
vapor, if indeed all substance is one, or they will be dispersed.
5. The reason which governs knows what its own disposition is, and what
it does, and on what material it works.
6. The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like [the
wrong-doer].
7. Take pleasure in one thing and rest in it, in passing from one social
act to another social act, thinking of God.
8. The ruling principle is that which rouses and turns itself, and while
it makes itself such as it is and such as it wills to be, it also makes
everything which happens appear to itself to be such as it wills.
9. In conformity to the nature of the universe every single thing is
accomplished; for certainly it is not in conformity to any other nature
that each thing is accomplished, either a nature which externally
comprehends this, or a nature which is comprehended within this nature,
or a nature external and independent of this (xi. 1; vi. 40; viii. 50).
10. The universe is either a confusion, and a mutual involution of
things, and a dispersion, or it is unity and order and providence. If
then it is the former, why do I desire to tarry in a fortuitous
combination of things and such a disorder? and why do I care about
anything else than how I shall at last become earth? and why am I
disturbed, for the dispersion of my elements will happen whatever I do?
But if the other supposition is true, I venerate, and I am firm, and I
trust in him who governs (iv. 27).
11. When thou hast been compelled by circumstances to be disturbed in a
manner, quickly return to thyself, and do not continue out of tune
longer than the compulsion lasts; for thou wilt have more mastery over
the harmony by continually recurring to it.
12. If thou hadst a step-mother and a mother at the same time, thou
wouldst be dutiful to thy step-mother, but still thou wouldst constantly
return to thy mother. Let the court and philosophy now be to thee
step-mother and mother: return to philosophy frequently and repose in
her, through whom what thou meetest with in the court appears to thee
tolerable, and thou appearest tolerable in the court.
13. When we have meat before us and such eatables, we receive the
impression that this is the dead body of a fish, and this the dead body
of a bird or of a pig; and again, that this Falernian is only a little
grape-juice, and this purple robe some sheep's wool dyed with the blood
of a shell-fish: such then are these impressions, and they reach the
things themselves and penetrate them, and so we see what kind of things
they are. Just in the same way ought we to act all through life, and
where there are things which appear most worthy of our approbation, we
ought to lay them bare and look at their worthlessness and strip them of
all the words by which they are exalted. For outward show is a wonderful
perverter of the reason, and when thou art most sure that thou art
employed about things worth thy pains, it is then that it cheats thee
most. Consider then what Crates says of Xenocrates himself.
14. Most of the things which the multitude admire are referred to
objects of the most general kind, those which are held together by
cohesion or natural organization, such as stones, wood, fig-trees,
vines, olives. But those which are admired by men, who are a little more
reasonable, are referred to the things which are held together by a
living principle, as flocks, herds. Those which are admired by men who
are still more instructed are the things which are held together by a
rational soul, not however a universal soul, but rational so far as it
is a soul skilled in some art, or expert in some other way, or simply
rational so far as it possesses a number of slaves. But he who values a
rational soul, a soul universal and fitted for political life, regards
nothing else except this; and above all things he keeps his soul in a
condition and in an activity conformable to reason and social life, and
he co-operates to this end with those who are of the same kind as
himself.
15. Some things are hurrying into existence, and others are hurrying out
of it; and of that which is coming into existence part is already
extinguished. Motions and changes are continually renewing the world,
just as the uninterrupted course of time is always renewing the infinite
duration of ages. In this flowing stream then, on which there is no
abiding, what is there of the things which hurry by on which a man would
set a high price? It would be just as if a man should fall in love with
one of the sparrows which fly by, but it has already passed out of
sight. Something of this kind is the very life of every man, like the
exhalation of the blood and the respiration of the air. For such as it
is to have once drawn in the air and to have given it back, which we do
every moment, just the same is it with the whole respiratory power,
which thou didst receive at thy birth yesterday and the day before, to
give it back to the element from which thou didst first draw it.
16. Neither is transpiration, as in plants, a thing to be valued, nor
respiration, as in domesticated animals and wild beasts, nor the
receiving of impressions by the appearances of things, nor being moved
by desires as puppets by strings, nor assembling in herds, nor being
nourished by food; for this is just like the act of separating and
parting with the useless part of our food. What then is worth being
valued? To be received with clapping of hands? No. Neither must we value
the clapping of tongues; for the praise which comes from the many is a
clapping of tongues. Suppose then that thou hast given up this worthless
thing called fame, what remains that is worth valuing? This, in my
opinion: to move thyself and to restrain thyself in conformity to thy
proper constitution, to which end both all employments and arts lead.
For every art aims at this, that the thing which has been made should be
adapted to the work for which it has been made; and both the
vine-planter who looks after the vine, and the horse-breaker, and he who
trains the dog, seek this end. But the education and the teaching of
youth aim at something. In this then is the value of the education and
the teaching. And if this is well, thou wilt not seek anything else.
Wilt thou not cease to value many other things too? Then thou wilt be
neither free, nor sufficient for thy own happiness, nor without passion.
For of necessity thou must be envious, jealous, and suspicious of those
who can take away those things, and plot against those who have that
which is valued by thee. Of necessity a man must be altogether in a
state of perturbation who wants any of these things; and besides, he
must often find fault with the gods. But to reverence and honor thy own
mind will make thee content with thyself, and in harmony with society,
and in agreement with the gods, that is, praising all that they give and
have ordered.
17. Above, below, all around are the movements of the elements. But the
motion of virtue is in none of these: it is something more divine, and
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 and living with themselves; but to be themselves praised
by posterity, by those whom they have never seen nor ever will see, this
they set much value on. But this is very much the same as if thou
shouldst be grieved because those who have lived before thee did not
praise thee.
19. If a thing is difficult to be accomplished by thyself, do not think
that it is impossible for man: but if anything is possible for man and
conformable to his nature, think that this can be attained by thyself
too.
20. In the gymnastic exercises suppose that a man has torn thee with his
nails, and by dashing against thy head has inflicted a wound. Well, we
neither show any signs of vexation, nor are we offended, nor do we
suspect him afterwards as a treacherous fellow; and yet we are on our
guard against him, not however as an enemy, nor yet with suspicion, but
we quietly get out of his way. Something like this let thy behavior be
in all the other parts of life; let us overlook many things in those who
are like antagonists in the gymnasium. For it is in our power, as I
said, to get out of the way, and to have no suspicion nor hatred.
21. If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or
act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the 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 trouble me not; for they are either
things without life, or things without reason, or things that have
rambled and know not the way.
23. As to the animals which have no reason, and generally all things
and objects, do thou, since thou hast reason and they have none, make
use of them with a generous and liberal spirit. But towards human
beings, as they have reason, behave in a social spirit. And on all
occasions call on the gods, and do not perplex thyself about the length
of time in which thou shalt do this; for even three hours so spent are
sufficient.
24. Alexander the Macedonian and his groom by death were brought to the
same state; for either they were received among the same seminal
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 which concern the body and things which concern the
soul: and so thou wilt not wonder if many more things, or rather all
things which come into existence in that which is the one and all, which
we call Cosmos, exist in it at the same time.
26. If any man should propose to thee the question, how the name
Antoninus is written, wouldst thou with a straining of the voice utter
each letter? What then if they grow angry, wilt thou be angry too? Wilt
thou not go on with composure and number every letter? Just so then in
this life also remember that every duty is made up of certain parts.
These it is thy duty to observe, and without being disturbed or showing
anger towards those who are angry with thee, to go on thy way and
finish that which is set before thee.
27. How cruel it is not to allow men to strive After the things which
appear to them to be suitable to their nature and profitable! And yet in
a manner thou dost not allow them to do this, when thou art vexed
because they do wrong. For they are certainly moved towards things
because they suppose them to be suitable to their nature and profitable
to them. But it is not so. Teach them then, and show them without being
angry.
28. Death is a cessation of the impressions through the senses, and of
the pulling of the strings which move the appetites, and of the
discursive movements of the thoughts, and of the service to the flesh
(ii. 12).
29. It is a shame for the soul to be first to give way in this life,
when thy body does not give way.
30. Take care that thou art not made into a Caesar, that thou art not
dyed with this dye; for such things happen. Keep thyself then simple,
good, pure, serious, free from affectation, a friend of justice, a
worshipper of the gods, kind, affectionate, strenuous in all proper
acts. Strive to continue to be such as philosophy wished to make thee.
Reverence the gods, and help men. Short is life. There is only one fruit
of this terrene life--a pious disposition and social acts. Do everything
as a disciple of Antoninus. Remember his constancy in every act which
was conformable to reason, and his evenness in all things, and his
piety, and the serenity of his countenance, and his sweetness, and his
disregard of empty fame, and his efforts to understand things; and how
he would never let anything pass without having first most carefully
examined it and clearly understood it; and how he bore with those who
blamed him unjustly without blaming them in return; how he did nothing
in a hurry; and how he listened not to calumnies, and how exact an
examiner of manners and actions he was; and not given to reproach
people, nor timid, nor suspicious, nor a sophist; and with how little he
was satisfied, such as lodging, bed, dress, food, servants; and how
laborious and patient; and how he was able on account of his sparing
diet to hold out to the evening, not even requiring to relieve himself
by any evacuations except at the usual hour; and his firmness and
uniformity in his friendships; and how he tolerated freedom of speech in
those who opposed his opinions; and the pleasure that he had when any
man showed him anything better; and how religious he was without
superstition. Imitate all this, that thou mayest have as good a
conscience, when thy last hour comes, as he had (i. 16).
31. Return to thy sober senses and call thyself back; and when thou hast
roused thyself from sleep and hast perceived that they were only dreams
which troubled thee, now in thy waking hours look at these [the things
about thee] as thou didst look at those [the dreams].
32. I consist of a little body and a soul. Now to this little body all
things are indifferent, for it is not able to perceive differences. But
to the understanding those things only are indifferent which are not the
works of its own activity. But whatever things are the works of its own
activity, all these are in its power. And of these however only those
which are done with reference to the present; for as to the future and
the past activities of the mind, even these are for the present
indifferent.
33. Neither the labor which the hand does nor that of the foot is
contrary to nature, so long as the foot does the foot's work and the
hand the hand's. So then neither to a man as a man is his labor contrary
to nature, so long as it does the things of a man. But 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. Dost thou not see how the handicrafts-men accommodate themselves up
to a certain point to those who are not skilled in their
craft--nevertheless they cling to the reason [the principles] of their
art, and do not endure to depart from it? Is it not strange if the
architect and the physician shall have more respect to the reason [the
principles] of their own arts than man to his own reason, which is
common to him and the gods?
36. Asia, Europe, are corners of the universe; all the sea a drop in the
universe; Athos a little clod of the universe: all the present time is a
point in eternity. All things are little, changeable, perishable. All
things come from thence, from that universal ruling power, either
directly proceeding or by way of sequence. And accordingly the lion's
gaping jaws, and that which is poisonous, and every harmful thing, as a
thorn, as mud, are after-products of the grand and beautiful. Do not
then imagine that they are of another kind from that which thou dost
venerate, but form a just opinion of the source of all (vii. 75).
37. He who has seen present things has seen all, both everything which
has taken place from all eternity and everything which will be for time
without end; for all things are of one kin and of one form.
38. Frequently consider the connection of all things in the universe and
their relation to one another. For in a manner all things are implicated
with one another, and all in this way are friendly to one another; for
one thing comes in order after another, and this is by virtue of the +
active movement and mutual conspiration and the unity of the substance
(ix. 1).
39. Adapt thyself to the things with which thy lot has been cast: and
the men among whom thou hast received thy portion, love them, but do it
truly [sincerely].
40. Every instrument, tool, vessel, if it does that for which it has
been made, is well, and yet he who made it is not there. But in the
things which are held together by nature there is within, and there
abides in them the power which made them; wherefore the more is it fit
to reverence this power, and to think, that, if thou dost live and act
according to its will, everything in thee is in conformity to
intelligence. And thus also in the universe the things which belong to
it are in conformity to intelligence.
41. Whatever of the things which are not within thy power thou shalt
suppose to be good for thee or evil, it must of necessity be that, if
such a bad thing befall thee, or the loss of such a good thing, thou
wilt not blame the gods, and hate men too, those who are the cause of
the misfortune or the loss, or those who are suspected of being likely
to be the cause; and indeed we do much injustice because we make a
difference between these things [because we do not regard these things
as indifferent+].[A] But if we judge only those things which are in our
power to be good or bad, there remains no reason either for finding
fault with God or standing in a hostile attitude to man.[B]
[A] Gataker translates this "because we strive to get these
things," comparing the use of [Greek: diapheresthai] in v. I, and x.
27, and ix. 38, where it appears that his reference should be
xi. 10. He may be right in his interpretation, but I doubt.
[B] Cicero, De Natura Deorum. iii. 32.
42. We are all working together to one end, some with knowledge and
design, and others without knowing what they do; as men also when they
are asleep, of whom it is Heraclitus, I think, who says that they are
laborers and co-operators in the things which take place in the
universe. But men co-operate after different fashions: and even those
co-operate abundantly, who find fault with what happens and those who
try to oppose it and to hinder it; for the universe had need even of
such men as these. It remains then for thee to understand among what
kind of workmen thou placest thyself; for he who rules all things will
certainly make a right use of thee, and he will receive thee among some
part of the co-operators and of those whose labors conduce to one end.
But be not thou such a part as the mean and ridiculous verse in the
play, which Chrysippus speaks of.[A]
[A] Plutarch, adversus Stoicos, c. 14.
43. Does the sun undertake to do the work of the rain, or Aesculapius
the work of the Fruit-bearer [the earth]? And how is it with respect to
each of the stars--are they not different and yet they work together to
the same end?
44. If the gods have determined about me and about the things which must
happen to me, they have determined well, for it is not easy even to
imagine a deity without forethought; and as to doing me harm, why
should they have any desire towards that? for what advantage would
result to them from this or to the whole, which is the special object of
their providence? But if they have not determined about me individually,
they have certainly determined about the whole at least, and the things
which happen by way of sequence in this general arrangement I ought to
accept with pleasure and to be content with them. But if they determine
about nothing,--which it is wicked to believe, or if we do believe it,
let us neither sacrifice nor pray nor swear by them, nor do anything
else which we do as if the gods were present and lived with us,--but if
however the gods determine about none of the things which concern us, I
am able to determine about myself, and I can inquire about that which is
useful; and that is useful to every man which is conformable to his own
constitution and nature. But my nature is rational and social; and my
city and country, so far as I am Antoninus, is Rome, but so far as I am
a man, it is the world. The things then which are useful to these cities
are alone useful to me.
45. Whatever happens to every man, this is for the interest of the
universal: this might be sufficient. But further thou wilt observe this
also as a general truth, if thou dost observe, that whatever is
profitable to any man is profitable also to other men. But let the word
profitable be taken here in the common sense as said of things of the
middle kind [neither good nor bad].
46. As it happens to thee in the amphitheatre and such places, that the
continual sight of the same things, and the uniformity, make the
spectacle wearisome, so it is in the whole of life; for all things
above, below, are the same and from the same. How long then?
47. Think continually that all kinds of men and all kinds of pursuits
and of all nations are dead, so that thy thoughts come down even to
Philistion and Phoebus and Origanion. Now turn thy thoughts to the other
kinds [of men]. To that place then we must remove, where there are so
many great orators, and so many noble philosophers, Heraclitus,
Pythagoras, Socrates; so many heroes of former days, and so many
generals after them, and tyrants; besides these, Eudoxus, Hipparchus,
Archimedes, and other men of acute natural talents, great minds, lovers
of labor, versatile, confident, mockers even of the perishable and
ephemeral life of man, as Menippus and such as are like him. As to all
these consider that they have long been in the dust. What harm then is
this to them; and what to those whose names are altogether unknown? One
thing here is worth a great deal, to pass thy life in truth and justice,
with a benevolent disposition even to liars and unjust men.
48. When thou wishest to delight thyself, think of the virtues of those
who live with thee; for instance, the activity of one, and the modesty
of another, and the liberality of a third, and some other good quality
of a fourth. For nothing delights so much as the examples of the
virtues, when they are exhibited in the morals of those who live with us
and present themselves in abundance, as far as is possible. Wherefore we
must keep them before us.
49. Thou art not dissatisfied. I suppose, because thou weighest only so
many litrae and not three hundred. Be not dissatisfied then that thou
must live only so many years and not more; for as thou art satisfied
with the amount of substance which has been assigned to thee, so be
content with the time.
50. Let us try to persuade them [men]. But act even against their will,
when the principles of justice lead that way. If however any man by
using force stands in thy way, betake thyself to contentment and
tranquillity, and at the same time employ the hindrance towards the
exercise of some other virtue; and remember that thy attempt was with a
reservation [conditionally], that thou didst not desire to do
impossibilities. What then didst thou desire?--Some such effort as
this.--But thou attainest thy object, if the things to which thou wast
moved are [not] accomplished. +
51. He who loves fame considers another man's activity to be his own
good; and he who loves pleasure, his own sensations; but he who has
understanding considers his own acts to be his own good.
52. It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and not to be
disturbed in our soul; for things themselves have no natural power to
form our judgments.
53. Accustom thyself to attend carefully to what is said by another, and
as much as it is possible, be in the speaker's mind.
54. That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the
bee.
55. If sailors abused the helmsman, or the sick the doctor, would they
listen to anybody else? or how could the helmsman secure the safety of
those in the ship, or the doctor the health of those whom he attends?
56. How many together with whom I came into the world are already gone
out of it.
57. To the jaundiced honey tastes bitter, and to those bitten by mad
dogs water causes fear; and to little children the ball is a fine thing.
Why then am I angry? Dost thou think that a false opinion has less power
than the bile in the jaundiced or the poison in him who is bitten by a
mad dog?
58. No man will hinder thee from living according to the reason of thy
own nature: nothing will happen to thee contrary to the reason of the
universal nature.
59. What kind of people are those whom men wish to please, and for what
objects, and by what kind of acts? How soon will time cover all things,
and how many it has covered already.
VII.
What is badness? It is that which thou hast often seen. And on the
occasion of everything which happens keep this in mind, that it is that
which thou hast often seen. Everywhere up and down thou wilt find the
same things, with which the old histories are filled, those of the
middle ages and those of our own day; with which cities and houses are
filled now. There is nothing new: all things are both familiar and
short-lived.
2. How can our principles become dead, unless the impressions [thoughts]
which correspond to them are extinguished? But it is in thy power
continuously to fan these thoughts into a flame. I can have that opinion
about anything which I ought to have. If I can, why am I disturbed? The
things which are external to my mind have no relation at all to my
mind.--Let this be the state of thy affects, and thou standest erect. To
recover thy life is in thy power. Look at things again as thou didst use
to look at them; for in this consists the recovery of thy life.
3. The idle business of show, plays on the stage, flocks of sheep,
herds, exercises with spears, a bone cast to little dogs, a bit of bread
into fishponds, laborings of ants and burden-carrying, runnings about
of frightened little mice, puppets pulled by strings--[all alike]. It is
thy duty then in the midst of such things to show good humor and not a
proud air; to understand however that every man is worth just so much as
the things are worth about which he busies himself.
4. In discourse thou must attend to what is said, and in every movement
thou must observe what is doing. And in the one thou shouldst see
immediately to what end it refers, but in the other watch carefully what
is the thing signified.
5. Is my understanding sufficient for this or not? If it is sufficient,
I use it for the work as an instrument given by the universal nature.
But if it is not sufficient, then either I retire from the work and give
way to him who is able to do it better, unless there be some reason why
I ought not to do so; or I do it as well as I can, taking to help me the
man who with the aid of my ruling principle can do what is now fit and
useful for the general good. For what-soever either by myself or with
another I can do, ought to be directed to this only, to that which is
useful and well suited to society.
6. How many after being celebrated by fame have been given up to
oblivion; and how many who have celebrated the fame of others have long
been dead.
7. Be not ashamed to be helped; for it is thy business to do thy duty
like a soldier in the assault on a town. How then, if being lame thou
canst not mount up on the battlements alone, but with the help of
another it is possible?
8. Let not future things disturb thee, for thou wilt come to them, if it
shall be necessary, having with thee the same reason 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
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,
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
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.
38. It is not right to vex ourselves at things, For they care nought
about it.[B]
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.[C]
[A] Plato, Pol. vi. 486.
[B] From the Bellerophon of Euripides.
[C] From the Hypsipyle of Euripides. Cicero (Tuscul. iii. 25)
has translated six lines from Euripides, and among them are
these two lines,--
"Reddenda terrae est terra: tum vita omnibus
Metenda ut fruges: Sic jubet necessitas."
41. If gods care not for me and my children,
There is a reason for it.
42. For the good is with me, and the just.[A]
43. No joining others in their wailing,
no violent emotion.
44. From Plato:[B] But I would make this man a sufficient answer, which
is this: Thou sayest not well, if thou thinkest that a man who is good
for anything at all ought to compute the hazard of life or death, and
should not rather look to this only in all that he does, whether he is
doing what is just or unjust, and the works of a good or bad man.
45. [C]For thus it is, men of Athens, in truth: wherever a man has
placed himself thinking it the best place for him, or has been placed by
a commander, there in my opinion he ought to stay and to abide the
hazard, taking nothing into the reckoning, either death or anything
else, before the baseness [of deserting his post].
[A] See Aristophanes, Acharnenses, v. 661.
[B] From the Apologia, c. 16.
[C] From the Apologia, c. 16.
46. But, my good friend, reflect whether that which is noble and good is
not something different from saving and being saved; for+ as to a man
living such or such a time, at least one who is really a man, consider
if this is not---a thing to be dismissed from the thoughts:+ and there
must be no love of life: but as to these matters a man must intrust them
to the Deity and believe what the women say, that no man can escape his
destiny, the next inquiry being how he may best live the time that he
has to live.[A]
47. Look round at the courses of the stars, as if thou wert going along
with them; and constantly consider the changes of the elements into one
another, for such thoughts purge away the filth of the terrene life.
48. This is a fine saying of Plato:[B] That he who is discoursing about
men should look also at earthly things as if he viewed them from some
higher place; should look at them in their assemblies, armies,
agricultural labors, marriages, treaties, births, deaths, noise of the
courts of justice, desert places, various nations of barbarians, feasts,
lamentations, markets, a mixture of all things and an orderly
combination of contraries.
[A] Plato, Gorgias, c. 68 (512). In this passage the text of
Antoninus has [Greek: eateon], which is perhaps right; but
there is a difficulty in the words [Greek: mê gar touto men,
to zên hoposondê chronon tonge hôs alêthos andra eateon esti, kai
ou] &C. The conjecture [Greek: eukteon] for [Greek: eateon]
does not mend the matter.
[B] It is said that this is not in the extant writings of
Plato.
49. Consider the past,--such great changes of political supremacies;
thou mayest foresee also the things which will be. For they will
certainly be of like form, and it is not possible that they should
deviate from the order of the things which 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 wilt thou see?
50. That which has grown from the earth to the earth,
But that which has sprung from heavenly seed,
Back to the heavenly realms returns.[A]
This is either a dissolution of the mutual involution of the atoms, or a
similar dispersion of the unsentient elements.
51. With food and drinks and cunning magic arts
Turning the channel's course to 'scape from death.[B]
The breeze which heaven has sent
We must endure, and toil without complaining.
[A] From the Chrysippus of Euripides.
[B] The first two lines are from the Supplices of Euripides, v.
1110.
52. Another may be more expert in casting his opponent; but he is not
more social, nor more modest, nor better disciplined to meet all that
happens, nor more considerate with respect to the faults of his
neighbors.
53. Where any work can be done conformably to the reason which is common
to gods and men, there we have nothing to fear; for where we are able
to get profit by means of the activity which is successful and proceeds
according to our constitution, there no harm is to be suspected.
54. Everywhere and at all times it is in thy power piously to acquiesce
in thy present condition, and to behave, justly to those who are about
thee, and to exert thy skill upon thy present thoughts, that nothing
shall steal into them without being well examined.
55. Do not look around thee to discover other men's ruling principles,
but look straight to this, to what nature leads thee, both the universal
nature through the things which happen to thee, and thy own nature
through the acts which must be done by thee. But every being ought to do
that which is according to its constitution; and all other things have
been constituted for the sake of rational beings, just as among
irrational things the inferior for the sake of the superior, but the
rational for the sake of one another.
The prime principle then in man's constitution is the social. And the
second is not to yield to the persuasions of the body,--for it is the
peculiar office of the rational and intelligent motion to circumscribe
itself, and never to be overpowered either by the motion of the senses
or of the appetites, for both are animal: but the intelligent motion
claims superiority, and does not permit itself to be overpowered by the
others. And with good reason, for it is formed by nature to use all of
them. The third thing in the rational constitution is freedom from error
and from deception. Let then the ruling principle holding fast to these
things go straight on, and it has what is its own.
56. Consider thyself to be dead, and to have completed thy life up to
the present time; and live according to nature the remainder which is
allowed thee.
57. Love that only which happens to thee and is spun with the thread of
thy destiny. For what is more suitable?
58. In everything which happens keep before thy eyes those to whom the
same things happened, and how they were vexed, and treated them as
strange things, and found fault with them: and now where are they?
Nowhere. Why then dost thou too choose to act in the same way? and why
dost thou not leave these agitations which are foreign to nature to
those who cause them and those who are moved by them; and why art thou
not altogether intent upon the right way of making use of the things
which happen to thee? For then thou wilt use them well, and they will be
a material for thee [to work on]. Only attend to thyself, and resolve to
be a good man in every act which thou doest: and remember ...[A]
[A] This section is obscure, and the conclusion is so corrupt
that it is impossible to give any probable meaning to it. It is
better to leave it as it is than to patch it up, as some
critics and translators have done.
59. Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble
up, if thou wilt ever dig.
60. The body ought to be compact, and to show no irregularity either in
motion or attitude. For what the mind shows in the face by maintaining
in it the expression of intelligence and propriety, that ought to be
required also in the whole body. But all these things should be observed
without affectation.
61. The art of life is more like the wrestler's art than the dancer's,
in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets
which are sudden and unexpected.
62. Constantly observe who those are whose approbation thou wishest to
have, and what ruling principles they possess. For then thou wilt
neither blame those who offend involuntarily, nor wilt thou want their
approbation, if thou lookest to the sources of their opinions and
appetites.
63. Every soul, the philosopher says, is involuntarily deprived of
truth; consequently in the same way it is deprived of justice and
temperance and benevolence and everything of the kind. It is most
necessary to bear this constantly in mind, for thus thou wilt be more
gentle towards all.
64. In every pain let this thought be present, that there is no dishonor
in it, nor does it make the governing intelligence worse, for it does
not damage the intelligence either so far as the intelligence is
rational[A] or so far as it is social. Indeed in the case of most pains
let this remark of Epicurus aid thee, that pain is neither intolerable
nor everlasting, if thou bearest in mind that it has its limits, and if
thou addest 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 the being scorched by
heat, and the having no appetite. When then thou art discontented about
any of these things, say to thyself that thou art yielding to pain.
65. Take care not to feel towards the inhuman as they feel towards
men.[B]
66. How do we know if Telauges was not superior in character to
Socrates? For it is not enough that Socrates died a more noble death,
and disputed more skilfully with the sophists, and passed the night in
the cold with more endurance, and that when he was bid to arrest Leon[C]
of Salamis, he considered it more noble to refuse, and that he walked in
a swaggering way in the streets[D]--though as to this fact one may have
great 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 pious 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 out
of the universal, nor enduring it as intolerable, nor allowing his
understanding to sympathize with the affects of the miserable flesh.
[A] The text has [Greek: hylikê], which it has been proposed to
alter to [Greek: logikê], and this change is necessary. We
shall then have in this section [Greek: logikê] and [Greek:
koinônikê] associated, as we have in s. 68 [Greek: logikê] and
[Greek: politikê], and in s. 72.
[B] I have followed Gataker's conjecture [Greek: ohi
apanthrôpoi] instead of the MSS. reading [Greek: ohi anthrôpoi]
[C] Leon of Salamis. See Plato, Epist. 7; Apolog. c. 20;
Epictetus, iv. I, 160; iv. 7, 30.
[D] Aristophan. Nub. 362. [Greek: hoti brenthuei t' en taisis
hodois kai tô ophthalmô paraballei.]
67. Nature has not so mingled+ [the intelligence] with the composition
of the body, as not to have allowed thee the power of circumscribing
thyself and of bringing under subjection to thyself all that is thy own;
for it is very possible to be a divine man and to be recognized as such
by no one. Always bear this in mind; and another thing too, that very
little indeed is necessary for living a happy life. And because thou
hast 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 thy power to live free from all compulsion in the greatest
tranquillity of mind, even if all the world cry out against thee as
much as they choose, and even if wild beasts tear in pieces the members
of this kneaded matter which has grown around thee. For what hinders the
mind in the midst of all this from maintaining itself in tranquillity
and in a just judgment of all surrounding things and in a ready use of
the objects which are presented to it, so that the judgment may say to
the thing which falls under its observation: This thou art in substance
[reality], though in men's opinion thou mayest appear to be of a
different kind; and the use shall say to that which falls under the
hand: Thou art the thing that I was seeking; for to me that which
presents itself is always a material for virtue both rational and
political, and in a word, for the exercise of art, which belongs to man
or God. For everything which happens has a relationship either to God or
man, and is neither new nor difficult to handle, but usual and apt
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
playing the hypocrite.
70. The gods who are immortal are not vexed because during so long a
time they must tolerate continually men such as they are and so many of
them bad; and besides this, they also take care of them in all ways.
But thou, who art destined to end so soon, art thou wearied of enduring
the bad, and this too when thou art one of them?
71. It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own badness,
which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men's badness, which is
impossible.
72. Whatever the rational and political [social] faculty finds to be
neither intelligent nor social, it properly judges to be inferior to
itself.
73. When thou hast done a good act and another has received it, why dost
thou still look for a third thing besides these, as fools do, either to
have the reputation of having done a good act or to obtain a return?
74. No man is tired of receiving what is useful. But it is useful to act
according to nature. Do not then be tired of receiving what is useful by
doing it to others.
75. The nature of the All moved to make the universe. But now either
everything that takes place comes by way of consequence or [continuity];
or even the chief things towards which the ruling power of the universe
directs its own movement are governed by no rational principle. If this
is remembered, it will make thee more tranquil in many things (vi. 44;
ix. 28).[A]
[A] It is not easy to understand this section. It has been
suggested that there is some error in [Greek: ê alogista] &c.
Some of the translators have made nothing of the passage, and
they have somewhat perverted the words. The first proposition
is, that the universe was made by some sufficient power. A
beginning of the universe is assumed, and a power which framed
an order. The next question is, How are things produced now?
Or, in other words, by what power do forms appear in continuous
succession? The answer, according to Antoninus, may be this: It
is by virtue of the original constitution of things that all
change and succession have been effected and are effected. And
this is intelligible in a sense, if we admit that the universe
is always one and the same, a continuity of identity; as much
one and the same as man is one and the same--which he believes
himself to be, though he also believes, and cannot help
believing, that both in his body and in his thoughts there is
change and succession. There is no real discontinuity then in
the universe; and if we say that there was an order framed in
the beginning, and that the things which are now produced are a
consequence of a previous arrangement, we speak of things as we
are compelled to view them, as forming a series of succession,
just as we speak of the changes in our own bodies and the
sequence of our own thoughts. But as there are no intervals,
not even intervals infinitely small, between any two supposed
states of any one thing, so there are no intervals, not even
infinitely small, between what we call one thing and any other
thing which we speak of as immediately preceding or following
it. What we call time is an idea derived from our notion of a
succession of things or events, an idea which is a part of our
constitution, but not an idea which we can suppose to belong to
an infinite intelligence and power. The conclusion then is
certain that the present and the past, the production of
present things and the supposed original order, out of which we
say that present things now come, are one, and the present
productive power and the so-called past arrangement are only
different names for one thing. I suppose then that Antoninus
wrote here as people sometimes talk now, and that his real
meaning is not exactly expressed by his words. There are
certainly other passages from which I think that we may collect
that he had notions of production something like what I have
expressed. We now come to the alternate: "or even the chief
things ... principle." I do not exactly know what he means by
[Greek: ta kureôtata] "the chief," or "the most excellent," or
whatever it is. But as he speaks elsewhere of inferior and
superior things, and of the inferior being for the use of the
superior, and of rational beings being the highest, he may here
mean rational beings. He also in this alternative assumes a
governing power of the universe, and that it acts by directing
its power towards these chief objects, or making its special,
proper motion towards them. And here he uses the noun ([Greek:
hormê]) "movement," which contains the same notion as the verb
([Greek: ôrmêse]) "moved," which he used at the beginning of
the paragraph, when he was speaking of the making of the
universe. If we do not accept the first hypothesis, he says, we
must take the conclusion of the second, that the "chief things
towards which the ruling power of the universe directs its own
movement are governed by no rational principle." The meaning
then is, if there is a meaning in it, that though there is a
governing power which strives to give effect to its efforts, we
must conclude that there is no rational direction of anything,
if the power which first made the universe does not in some way
govern it still. Besides, if we assume that anything is now
produced or now exists without the action of the supreme
intelligence, and yet that this intelligence makes an effort to
act, we obtain a conclusion which cannot be reconciled with the
nature of a supreme power, whose existence Antoninus always
assumes. The tranquillity that a man may gain from these
reflections must result from his rejecting the second
hypothesis and accepting the first--whatever may be the exact
sense in which the emperor understood the first. Or, as he says
elsewhere, if there is no Providence which governs the world,
man has at least the power of governing himself according to
the constitution of his nature; and so he may be tranquil if he
does the best that he can.
If there is no error in the passage, it is worth the labor to
discover the writer's exact meaning--for I think that he had a
meaning, though people may not agree what it was. (Compare ix.
28.) If I have rightly explained the emperor's meaning in this
and other passages, he has touched the solution of a great
question.
VIII.
This reflection also tends to the removal of the desire of empty fame,
that it is no longer in thy power to have lived the whole of thy life,
or at least thy life from thy youth upwards, like a philosopher; but
both to many others and to thyself it is plain that thou art far from
philosophy. Thou hast fallen into disorder then, so that it is no longer
easy for thee to get the reputation of a philosopher; and thy plan of
life also opposes it. If then thou hast truly seen where the matter
lies, throw away the thought, How thou shall seem [to others], and be
content if thou shalt live the rest of thy life in such wise as thy
nature wills. Observe then what it wills, and let nothing else distract
thee; for thou hast had experience of many wanderings without having
found happiness anywhere,--not in syllogisms, nor in wealth, nor in
reputation, nor in enjoyment, nor anywhere. Where is it then? In doing
what man's nature requires. How then shall a man do this? If he has
principles from which come his affects 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 do the contrary to what has
been mentioned.
2. On the occasion of every act ask thyself, How is this with respect to
me? Shall I repent of 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 living being, and a social being, and one who is under the
same law with God?
3. Alexander and Caius[A] and Pompeius, what are they in comparison with
Diogenes and Heraclitus and Socrates? For they were acquainted with
things, and their causes [forms], and their matter, and the ruling
principles of these men were the same [or conformable to their
pursuits]. But as to the others, how many things had they to care for,
and to how many things were they slaves!
[A] Caius is C. Julius Caesar, the dictator; and Pompeius is
Cn. Pompeius, named Magnus.
4. [Consider] that men will do the same things nevertheless, even though
thou shouldst burst.
5. This is the chief thing: Be not perturbed, for all things are
according to the nature of the universal; and in a little time thou wilt
be nobody and nowhere, like Hadrianus and Augustus. In the next place,
having fixed thy eyes steadily on thy business, look at it, and at the
same time remembering that it is thy duty to be a good man, and what
man's nature demands, do that without turning aside; and speak as it
seems to thee most just, only let it be with a good disposition and with
modesty and without hypocrisy.
6. The nature of the universal has this work to do,--to remove to that
place the things which are in this, to change them, to take, them away
hence, and to carry them there. All things are change, yet we need not
fear anything new. All things are familiar [to us]; but the distribution
of them still remains the same.
7. 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, and when it directs its movements
to social acts only, and 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 be impeded; but the nature of man is part of a
nature which is not subject to impediments, and is intelligent and just,
since it gives to everything in equal portions and according to its
worth, times, substance, cause [form], activity, and incident. But
examine, not to discover that any one thing compared with any other
single thing is equal in all respects, but by taking all the parts
together of one thing and comparing them with all the parts together of
another.
8. Thou hast not leisure [or ability] to read. But thou hast leisure [or
ability] to check arrogance: thou hast leisure to be superior to
pleasure and pain: thou hast leisure to be superior to love of fame, and
not to be vexed at stupid and ungrateful people, nay even to care for
them.
9. Let no man any longer hear thee finding fault with the court life or
with thy own (v. 16).
10. Repentance is a kind of self-reproof for having neglected something
useful; but that which is good must be something useful, and the perfect
good man should look after it. But no such man would ever repent of
having refused any sensual pleasure. Pleasure then is neither good nor
useful.
11. This thing, what is it in itself, in its own constitution? What is
its substance and material? And what its causal nature [or form]? And
what is it doing in the world? And how long does it subsist?
12. When thou risest from sleep with reluctance, remember that it is
according to thy constitution and according to human nature to perform
social acts, but sleeping is common also to irrational animals. But that
which is according to each individual's nature is also more peculiarly
its own, and more suitable to its nature, and indeed also more agreeable
(v. 1).
13. Constantly, and, if it be possible, on the occasion of every
impression on the soul, apply to it the principles of Physic, of Ethic,
and of Dialectic.
14. Whatever man thou meetest with, immediately say to thyself: What
opinions has this man about good and bad? For if with respect to
pleasure and pain and the causes of each, and with respect to fame and
ignominy, 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.[A]
[A] Antoninus v. 16. Thucydides, iii 10: [Greek: en gar tô
diallassonti tês gnômês kai ai diaphorai tôn ergôn
kathistantai].
15. Remember that as it is a shame to be surprised if the fig-tree
produces figs, so it is to be surprised if the world produces such and
such things of which it is productive; and for the physician and the
helmsman it is a shame to be surprised if a man has a fever, or if the
wind is unfavorable.
16. Remember that to change thy opinion and to follow him who corrects
thy error is as consistent with freedom as it is to persist in thy
error. For it is thy own, the activity which is exerted according to thy
own movement and judgment, and indeed according to thy own understanding
too.
17. If a thing is in thy own power, why dost thou do it? but if it is in
the power of another, whom dost thou blame,--the atoms [chance] or the
gods? Both are foolish. Thou must blame nobody. For if thou canst,
correct [that which is the cause]; but if thou canst not do this,
correct at least the thing itself; but if thou canst not do even this,
of what use is it to thee to find fault? for nothing should be done
without a purpose.
18. That which has died falls not 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 thyself. And these too change, and they
murmur not.
19. Everything exists for some end,--a horse, a vine. Why dost thou
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 art thou,--to enjoy
pleasure? See if common sense allows this.
20. Nature has had 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 have 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 light also.
21. Turn it [the body] inside out, and see what kind of thing it is; and
when it has grown old, what kind of thing it becomes, and when it is
diseased.
Short lived are both the praiser and the praised, and the rememberer and
the remembered: and all this in a nook of this part of the world; and
not even here do all agree, no, not any one with himself: and the whole
earth too is a point.
22. Attend to the matter which is before thee, whether it is an opinion
or an act or a word.
Thou sufferest this justly: for thou choosest rather to become good
to-morrow than to be good to-day.
23. Am I doing anything? I do it with reference to the good of mankind.
Does anything happen to me? I receive it and refer it to the gods, and
the source of all things, from which all that happens is derived.
24. Such as bathing appears to thee,--oil, sweat, dirt, filthy water,
all things disgusting,--so is every part of life and everything.
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.
Such is everything. Celer saw Hadrianus die, and then Celer died. And
those sharp-witted men, either seers or men inflated with pride, where
are they,--for instance the sharp-witted men, Charax and Demetrius the
Platonist, and Eudaemon, and any one 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 again others have
disappeared even from fables. Remember this then, that this little
compound, thyself, must either be dissolved, or thy poor breath must be
extinguished, or be removed and placed elsewhere.
26. It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper works 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 take a survey of the nature of the universe and of
the things which happen in it.
27. There are three relations [between thee and other things]: the one
to the body[A] which surrounds thee; the second to the divine cause from
which all things come to all; and the third to those who live with thee.
[A] The text has [Greek: aition], which in Antoninus means
"form," "formal." Accordingly Schultz recommends either
Valkenaer's emendation [Greek: angeion], "body," or Coraïs'
[Greek: sômation]. Compare xii. 13; x. 38.
28. Pain is either an evil to the body--then 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 not to think that pain
is an evil. For every judgment and movement and desire and aversion is
within, and no evil ascends so high.
29. Wipe out thy imaginations by often saying to thyself: Now it is in
my power to let no badness be in this soul, nor desire, nor any
perturbation at all; but looking at all things I see what is their
nature, and I use each according to its value.--Remember this power
which thou hast from nature.
30. Speak both in the senate and to every man, whoever he may be,
appropriately, not with any affectation: use plain discourse.
31. Augustus' court, wife, daughter, descendants, ancestors, sister,
Agrippa, kinsmen, intimates, friends; Areius,[A] 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],
as of the Pompeii; and that which is inscribed on the tombs,--The last
of his race. Then consider what trouble those before them have had that
they might leave a successor; and then, that of necessity some one must
be the last. Again, here consider the death of a whole race.
[A] Areius ([Greek: Areios]) was a philosopher, who was
intimate with Augustus; Sueton. Augustus, c. 89; Plutarch,
Antoninus, 80; Dion Cassius, 51, c. 16.
32. It is thy duty to order thy life well in every single act; and if
every act does its duty as far as is possible, be content; and no one is
able to hinder thee so that each act shall not do its duty.--But
something external will stand in the way. Nothing will stand in the way
of thy acting justly and soberly and considerately.--But perhaps some
other active power will be hindered. Well, but by acquiescing in the
hindrance and by being content to transfer thy efforts to that which is
allowed, another opportunity of action is immediately put before thee in
place of that which was hindered, and one which will adapt itself to
this ordering of which we are speaking.
33. Receive [wealth or prosperity] without arrogance; and be ready to
let it go.
34. If thou didst ever see a hand cut off, or a foot, or a head, lying
anywhere apart from the rest of the body, such does a man make himself,
as far as he can, who is not content with what happens, and separates
himself from others, or does anything unsocial. Suppose that thou hast
detached thyself from the natural unity,--for thou wast made by nature a
part, but now thou hast cut thyself off,--yet here there is this
beautiful provision, that it is in thy power again to unite thyself. God
has allowed this to no other part, after it has been separated and cut
asunder, to come together again. But consider the kindness 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 its own material, and to use it for such
purposes as it may have designed.[A]
36. Do not disturb thyself by thinking of the whole of thy life. Let not
thy thoughts at once embrace all the various troubles which thou mayest
expect to befall thee: but on every occasion ask thyself, What is there
in this which is intolerable and past bearing? for thou wilt be ashamed
to confess. In the next place remember that neither the future nor the
past pains thee, but only the present. But this is reduced to a very
little, if thou only circumscribest it, and chidest thy mind if it is
unable to hold out against even this.
37. Does Panthea or Fergamus now sit by the tomb of Verus?[B] Does
Chaurias or Diotimus sit by the tomb of Hadrianus? That would be
ridiculous. Well, suppose they did sit there, would the dead be
conscious of it? and if the dead were conscious, would they be pleased?
and if they were pleased, would that make them immortal? Was it not in
the order of destiny that these persons too should first become old
women and old men and then die? What then would those do after these
were dead? All this is foul smell and blood in a bag.
[A] The text is corrupt at the beginning of the paragraph, but
the meaning will appear if the second [Greek: logikôn] is
changed into [Greek: holôn] though this change alone will not
establish the grammatical completeness of the text.
[B] "Verus" is a conjecture of Saumaise, and perhaps the true
reading.
38. If thou canst see sharp, look 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 thou takest away thy opinion about that which appears to give
thee pain, thou thyself standest in perfect security.--Who is this
self?--The reason.--But I am not reason.--Be it so. Let then the reason
itself not trouble itself. But if any other part of thee suffers, let it
have its own opinion about itself (vii. 16).
41. Hindrance to the perceptions of sense is an evil to the animal
nature. Hindrance to the movements [desires] 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 then that which is a hindrance to
the intelligence is an evil to the intelligent nature. Apply all these
things then to thyself. Does pain or sensuous pleasure affect thee? The
senses will look to that. Has any obstacle opposed thee in thy efforts
towards an object? If indeed thou wast making this effort absolutely
[unconditionally, or without any reservation], certainly this obstacle
is an evil to thee considered as a rational animal. But if thou takest
[into consideration] the usual course of things, thou hast not yet been
injured nor even impeded. The things however which are proper to the
understanding no other man is used to 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 fit that I should give myself pain, for I have never
intentionally given pain even to another.
43. Different things delight different people; but 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. See that thou secure this present time to thyself: for those who
rather pursue posthumous fame do not consider that the men of after time
will be exactly such as these whom they cannot bear now; and both are
mortal. And what is it in any way to thee if these men of after time
utter this or that sound, or have this or that opinion about thee?
45. Take me and cast me where thou wilt; for there I shall keep my
divine part tranquil, that is, content, if it can feel and act
comformably to its proper constitution. Is this [change of place]
sufficient reason why my soul should be unhappy and worse than it was,
depressed, expanded, shrinking, affrighted? and what wilt thou find
which is sufficient reason for this?[A]
[A] [Greek: oregomenê] in this passage seems to have a passive
sense. It is difficult to find an apt expression for it and
some of the other words. A comparison with xi. 12, will help to
explain the meaning.
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 which
is not according to the nature of a vine, nor to a stone which is not
proper to a stone. If then there happens to each thing both what is
usual and natural, why shouldst thou complain? For the common nature
brings nothing which may not be borne by thee.
47. If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that
disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to
wipe out this judgment now. But if anything in thy own disposition gives
thee pain, who hinders thee from correcting thy opinion? And even if
thou art pained because thou art not doing some particular thing which
seems to thee to be right, why dost thou not rather act than
complain?--But some insuperable obstacle is in the way?--Do not be
grieved then, for the cause of its not being done depends not on
thee.--But it is not worth while to live, if this cannot be done.--Take
thy departure then from life contentedly, just as he dies who is in full
activity, and well pleased too with the things which are obstacles.
48. Remember that the ruling faculty is invincible, when self-collected
it is satisfied with itself, if it does nothing which it does not choose
to do, even if it resist from mere obstinacy. What then will it be when
it forms a judgment about anything aided by reason and deliberately?
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 for the future be
inexpugnable. 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. Say nothing more to thyself than what the first appearances report.
Suppose that it has been reported to thee that a certain person speaks
ill of thee. This has been reported; but that thou hast been injured,
that has not been reported. I see that my child is sick. I do see; but
that he is in danger, I do not see. Thus then always abide by the first
appearances, and add nothing thyself from within, and then nothing
happens to thee. Or rather add something like a man who knows everything
that happens in the world.
50. A cucumber is bitter--Throw it away.--There are briers in the
road--Turn aside from them.--This is enough. Do not add, And why were
such things made in the world? For thou wilt be ridiculed by a man who
is acquainted with nature, as thou wouldst be ridiculed by a carpenter
and shoemaker if thou didst find fault because thou seest in their
workshop shavings and cuttings from the things which they make. And yet
they have places into which they can throw these shavings and cuttings,
and the universal nature has no external space; but the wondrous part of
her art is that though she has circumscribed herself, everything within
her which appears to decay and to grow old and to be useless she changes
into herself, and again makes other 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 thy actions be sluggish nor in thy conversation without
method, nor wandering in thy thoughts, nor let there be in thy soul
inward contention nor external effusion, nor in life be so busy as to
have no leisure.
Suppose that men kill thee, cut thee in pieces, curse thee. What then
can these things do to prevent thy mind from remaining pure, wise,
sober, just? For instance, if a man should stand by a limpid pure
spring, and curse it, the spring never ceases sending up potable water;
and if he should cast clay into it or filth, it will speedily disperse
them and wash them out, and will not be at all polluted. How then shalt
thou possess a perpetual fountain [and not a mere well]? By forming +
thyself hourly to freedom conjoined with contentment, 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, nor 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 dost thou think of him who [avoids or] seeks the praise of
those who applaud, of men who know not either where they are or who they
are?
53. Dost thou wish to be praised by a man who curses himself thrice
every hour? wouldst thou wish to please a man who does not please
himself? Does a man please himself who repents of nearly everything that
he does?
54. No longer let thy breathing only act in concert with the air which
surrounds thee, but let thy intelligence also now be in harmony with the
intelligence which embraces all things. For the intelligent power is no
less diffused in all parts and pervades all things for him who is
willing to draw it to him than the aerial power for him who is able to
respire 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 shall choose.
56. To my own free will the free will of my neighbor is just as
indifferent as his poor breath and 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 unhappiness may
not depend on another.
57. The sun appears to be poured down, and in all directions indeed it
is diffused, yet it is not effused. For this diffusion is extension:
Accordingly its rays are called Extensions [[Greek: aktines]] because
they are extended [[Greek: apo tou ekteinesthai]].[A] But one may judge
what kind of a thing a ray is, if he looks at the sun's light passing
through a narrow opening into a darkened room, for it is extended in a
right line, and as it were is divided when it meets with any 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 in
no way be an effusion, but an extension, and it should make no violent
or impetuous collision with the obstacles which are in its way; nor yet
fall down, but be fixed, and enlighten that which receives it. For a
body will deprive itself of the illumination, if it does not admit it.
[A] A piece of bad etymology.
58. He who fears death either fears the loss of sensation or a different
kind of sensation. But if thou shalt have no sensation, neither wilt
thou feel any harm; and if thou shalt acquire another kind of sensation,
thou wilt be a different kind of living being and thou wilt not cease to
live.
59. Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then, or bear with
them.
60. In one way an arrow moves, in another way the mind. The mind indeed,
both when it exercises caution and when it is employed about inquiry,
moves straight onward not the less, and to its object.
61. Enter into every man's ruling faculty; and also let every other man
enter into thine.[A]
[A] Compare Epictetus, iii. 9, 12.
IX.
He who acts unjustly acts impiously. For since the universal nature has
made rational animals for the sake of one another, to help one another
according to their deserts, but in no way to injure one another, he who
transgresses her will is clearly guilty of impiety towards the highest
divinity. And he too who lies is guilty of impiety to the same divinity;
for the universal nature is the nature of things that are; and things
that are have a relation to all things that come into existence.[A] 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 he had received powers from
nature through the neglect of which he is not able now to 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 impiety.
Now with respect to the things towards 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 with it, and equally affected. With respect
to pain, then, and pleasure, or death and life, or honor and dishonor,
which the universal nature employs equally, whoever is not equally
affected is manifestly acting impiously. 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 principles of the things which were to be, and
having determined powers productive of beings and of changes and of such
like successions (vii. 75).
[A] "As there is not any action or natural event, which we are
acquainted with, so single and unconnected as not to have a
respect to some other actions and events, so possibly each of
them, when it has not an immediate, may yet have a remote,
natural relation to other actions and events, much beyond the
compass of this present world." Again: "Things seemingly the
most insignificant imaginable are perpetually observed to be
necessary conditions to other things of the greatest
importance, so that any one thing whatever may, for aught we
know to the contrary, be a necessary condition to any
other."--Butler's Analogy, Chap. 7. See all the chapter. Some
critics take [Greek: ta hyparchonta] in this passage of
Antoninus to be the same as [Greek: ta honta]: but if that were
so he might have said [Greek: pros allêla] instead of [Greek:
pros ta hyparchonta]. Perhaps the meaning of [Greek: pros ta
hyparchonta] may be "to all prior things." If so, the
translation is still correct. See vi. 38.
2. 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 out one's life when a man has had enough of these
things is the next best voyage, as the saying is. Hast thou determined
to abide with vice, and hast not experience yet induced thee to fly from
this pestilence? For the destruction of the understanding is a
pestilence, much more, indeed, than any such corruption and change of
this atmosphere which surrounds us. For this corruption is a pestilence
of animals so far as they are animals; but the other is a pestilence of
men so far as they are men.
3. 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, and all the other natural operations which the seasons of
thy life bring, 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 thou now waitest for the time when the child
shall come out of thy wife's womb, so be ready for the time when thy
soul shall fall out of this envelope.[A] But if thou requirest also a
vulgar kind of comfort which shall reach thy heart, thou wilt be made
best reconciled to death by observing the objects from which thou art
going to be removed, and the morals of those with whom thy soul will no
longer be mingled. For it is no way right to be offended with men, but
it is thy duty to care for them and to bear with them gently; and yet to
remember that thy departure will not be from men who have the same
principles as thyself. 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 thou seest how great is the trouble arising from the discordance
of those who live together, so that thou mayst say, Come quick, O death,
lest perchance I, too, should forget myself.
[A] Note 1 of the Philosophy, p. 76.
4. He who does wrong does wrong against himself. He who acts unjustly
acts unjustly to himself, because he makes himself bad.
5. He often acts unjustly who does not do a certain thing; not only he
who does a certain thing.
6. Thy present opinion founded on understanding, and thy present conduct
directed to social good, and thy present disposition of contentment with
everything which happens+--that is enough.
7. Wipe out imagination; check desire: extinguish appetite: keep the
ruling faculty in its own power.
8. Among the animals which have not reason one life is distributed; but
among reasonable animals one intelligent soul is distributed: just as
there is one earth of all things which are of an earthly 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.
9. All things which participate in anything which is common to them all,
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 something to keep them asunder, and the
application of force. Fire indeed moves upwards on account of the
elemental fire, but it is so ready to be kindled together with all the
fire which is here, that even every substance which is somewhat dry is
easily ignited, because there is less mingled with it of that which is a
hindrance to ignition. Accordingly, then, everything also which
participates in the common intelligent nature moves in like manner
towards that which is of the same kind with itself, 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 that which is akin to it. Accordingly among animals devoid of
reason we find swarms of bees, and herds of cattle, and the nurture of
young birds, and in a manner, loves; for even in animals there are
souls, and that power which brings them together is seen to exert itself
in a superior degree, and in such a way as never has been observed in
plants nor in stones nor in trees. But in 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 property of flowing together is not seen. But still, though men
strive to avoid [this union], they are caught and held by it, for their
nature is too strong for them; and thou wilt see what I say, if thou
only observest. 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
seasons each produces it. But and if usage has especially fixed these
terms to the vine and like things, this is nothing. 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 thou art able, correct by teaching those who do wrong; but if
thou canst not, remember that indulgence is given to thee for this
purpose. And the gods, too, are indulgent to such persons; and for some
purposes they even help them to get health, wealth, reputation; so kind
they are. And it is in thy power also; or say, who hinders thee?
12. Labor not as one who is wretched, nor yet as one who would be pitied
or admired; but direct thy will to one thing only--to put thyself in
motion and to check thyself, as the social reason requires.
13. To-day I have got out of all trouble, or rather I have cast out all
trouble, for it was not outside, but within and in my opinions.
14. All things are the same, familiar in experience, and ephemeral in
time, and worthless in the matter. Everything now is just as it was in
the time of those whom we have buried.
15. Things stand outside of us, themselves by themselves, neither
knowing aught of themselves, nor expressing any judgment. What is it,
then, which does judge about them? The ruling faculty.
16. Not in passivity but in activity lie the evil and the good of the
rational social animal, just as his virtue and his vice lie not in
passivity but in activity.[A]
[A] Virtutis omnis laus in actione consistit.--_Cicero_, De
Off., 1. 6.
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 inwards into men's leading principles, and thou wilt see
what judges thou art afraid of, and what kind of judges they are of
themselves.
19. All things are changing: and thou thyself art in continuous mutation
and in a manner in continuous destruction, and the whole universe too.
20. It is thy duty to leave another man's wrongful act there where it is
(vii. 29; ix. 38).
21. Termination of activity, cessation from movement and opinion, and
in a sense their death, is no evil. Turn thy thoughts now to the
consideration of thy life, thy life as a child, as a youth, thy manhood,
thy old age, for in these also every change was a death. Is this
anything to fear? Turn thy thoughts now to thy life under thy
grandfather, then to thy life under thy mother, then to thy life under
thy father; and as thou findest many other differences and changes and
terminations, ask thyself, Is this anything to fear? In like manner,
then, neither are the termination and cessation and change of thy whole
life a thing to be afraid of.
[Illustration: THE FORUM]
22. Hasten [to examine] thy own ruling faculty and that of the universe
and that of thy neighbor: thy own, that thou mayst make it just: and
that of the universe, that thou mayst remember of what thou art a part;
and that of thy neighbor, that thou mayst know whether he has acted
ignorantly or with knowledge, and thou mayst also consider that his
ruling faculty is akin to thine.
23. As thou thyself art a component part of a social system, so let
every act of thine be a component part of social life. Whatever act of
thine then has no reference either immediately or remotely to a social
end, this tears asunder thy life, and does not allow it to be one, and
it is of the nature of a mutiny, just as when in a popular assembly a
man acting by himself stands apart from the general agreement.
24. Quarrels of little children and their sports, and poor spirits
carrying about dead bodies [such is everything]; and so what is
exhibited in the representation of the mansions of the dead[A] strikes
our eyes more clearly.
[A] [Greek: to tês Nekuias] may be, as Gataker conjectures, a
dramatic representation of the state of the dead. Schultz
supposes that it may be also a reference to the [Greek: Nekuia]
of the Odyssey (lib. xi.).
25. Examine into the quality of the form of an object, and detach it
altogether from its material part, and then contemplate it; then
determine the time, the longest which a thing of this peculiar form is
naturally made to endure.
26. Thou hast endured infinite troubles through not being contented with
thy ruling faculty when it does the things which it is constituted by
nature to do. But enough + [of this].
27. When another blames thee or hates thee, or when men say about thee
anything injurious, approach their poor souls, penetrate within, and see
what kind of men they are. Thou wilt discover that there is no reason to
take any trouble that these men may have this or that opinion about
thee. However, thou 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, towards the attainment of those things on which they set a value.+
28. The periodic movements of the universe are the same, up and down
from age to age. And either the universal intelligence puts itself in
motion for every separate effect, and if this is so, be thou content
with that which is the result of its activity; or it puts itself in
motion once, and everything else comes by way of sequence[A] 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, do not thou
also be governed by it (vi. 44; vii. 75).
[A] The words which immediately follow [Greek: kat'
epakolouthêsin] are corrupt. But the meaning is hardly
doubtful. (Compare vii. 75.)
Soon will the earth cover us all: then the earth, too, will change, and
the things also 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 like wave after wave and
their rapidity, he will despise 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 drivellers. Well then, man: do what nature now
requires. Set thyself in motion, if it is in thy power, and do not look
about thee to see if any one will observe it; nor yet expect Plato's
Republic:[A] 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
opinions? and without a change of opinions 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
trained 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.
[A] Those who wish to know what Plato's Republic is may now
study it in the accurate translation of Davies and Vaughan.
30. Look down from above on the countless herds of men and their
countless solemnities, and the infinitely varied voyagings 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 thee, and the life now lived among
barbarous nations, and how many know not even thy name, and how many
will soon forget it, and how they who perhaps now are praising thee will
very soon blame thee, and that neither a posthumous name is of any
value, nor reputation, nor anything else.
31. Let there be freedom from perturbations with respect to the things
which come from the external cause; and let there be justice in the
things done by virtue of the internal cause, that is, let there be
movement and action terminating in this, in social acts, for this is
according to thy nature.
32. Thou canst remove out of the way many useless things among those
which disturb thee, for they lie entirely in thy opinion; and thou wilt
then gain for thyself ample space by comprehending the whole universe in
thy mind, and by contemplating the eternity of time, and observing the
rapid change of every several thing, how short is the time from birth to
dissolution, and the illimitable time before birth as well as the
equally boundless time after dissolution!
33. All that thou seest 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 these men's leading principles, and about what kind of
things are they busy, and for what kind of reasons do they love and
honor? Imagine that thou seest their pool 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 in like form, and will be such to time without
end. What, then, dost thou say,--that all things have been and all
things always will be bad, and that no power has ever been found in so
many gods to rectify these things, but the world has been condemned to
be bound in never ceasing evil (iv. 45, vii. 18)?
36. The rottenness of the matter which is the foundation of everything!
water, dust, bones, filth: or again, marble rocks, the callosities of
the earth; and gold and silver, the sediments; and garments, only bits
of hair; and purple dye, blood; and everything else is of the same kind.
And that which is of the nature of breath is also another thing of the
same kind, changing from this to that.
37. Enough of this wretched life and murmuring and apish tricks. Why art
thou disturbed? What is there new in this? What unsettles thee? Is it
the form of the thing? Look at it. Or is it the matter? Look at it. But
besides these there is nothing. Towards the gods then, now become at
last more simple and better. It is the same whether we examine these
things for a hundred years or three.
38. If a man has done wrong the harm is his own. 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 than mixture and dispersion. Why, then, art thou disturbed?
Say to the ruling faculty, Art thou dead, art thou corrupted, art thou
playing the hypocrite, art thou become a beast, dost thou herd and feed
with the rest?[A]
[A] There is some corruption at the end of this section, but I
think that the translation expresses the emperor's meaning.
Whether intelligence rules all things or chance rules, a man
must not be disturbed. He must use the power that he has and be
tranquil.
40. Either the gods have no power or they have power. If, then, they
have no power, why dost thou pray to them? But if they have power, why
dost thou not pray for them to give thee the faculty of not fearing any
of the things which thou fearest, or of not desiring any of the things
which thou desirest, or not being pained at anything, rather than pray
that any of these things should not happen or happen? for certainly if
they can co-operate with men, they can co-operate for these purposes.
But perhaps thou wilt say the gods have placed them in thy power. Well,
then, is it not better to use what is in thy power like a free man than
to desire in a slavish and abject way what is not in thy power? And who
has told thee that the gods do not aid us, even in the things which are
in our power? Begin, then, to pray for such things, and thou wilt see.
One man prays thus: How shall I be able to lie with that woman? Do thou
pray thus: How shall I not desire to lie with her? Another prays thus:
How shall I be released from this? Pray thou: How shall I not desire to
be released? Another thus: How shall I not lose my little son? Thou
thus: How shall I not be afraid to lose him? In fine, turn thy prayers
this way, and see what comes.
41. Epicurus says, In my sickness my conversation was not about my
bodily sufferings, nor, says he, 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 this main point, how the mind, while participating in
such movements as go on in the poor flesh, shall be free from
perturbations and maintain its proper good. Nor did I, he says, 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 thou art sick, and in any
other circumstances; for never to desert philosophy in any events that
may befall us, nor to hold trifling talks either with an ignorant man or
with one unacquainted with nature, is a principle of all schools of
philosophy; but to be intent only on that which thou art now doing and
on the instrument by which thou doest it.
42. When thou art offended with any man's shameless conduct, immediately
ask thyself, Is it possible, then, that shameless men should not be in
the world? It is not possible. Do not, then, require what is impossible.
For this man also is one of those shameless men who must of necessity be
in the world. Let the same considerations be present to thy mind in the
case of the knave, and the faithless man, and of every man who does
wrong in any way. For at the same time that thou dost remind thyself
that it is impossible that such kind of men should not exist, thou wilt
become more kindly disposed towards every one individually. It is useful
to perceive this, too, immediately when the occasion arises, what virtue
nature has given to man to oppose to every wrongful act. For she has
given to man, as an antidote against the stupid man, mildness, and
against another kind of man some other power. And in all cases it is
possible for thee to correct by teaching the man who is gone astray; for
every man who errs misses his object and is gone astray. Besides,
wherein hast thou been injured? For thou wilt find that no one among
those against whom thou art irritated has done anything by which thy
mind could be made worse; but that which is evil to thee 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 does the acts of an
uninstructed man? Consider whether thou shouldst not rather blame
thyself, because thou didst not expect such a man to err in such a way.
For thou hadst means given thee by thy reason to suppose that it was
likely that he would commit this error, and yet thou hast forgotten and
art amazed that he has erred. But most of all when thou blamest a man as
faithless or ungrateful, turn to thyself. For the fault is manifestly
thy own, whether thou didst trust that a man who had such a disposition
would keep his promise, or when conferring thy kindness thou didst not
confer it absolutely, nor yet in such way as to have received from thy
very act all the profit. For what more dost thou want when thou hast
done a man a service? art thou not content that thou hast done something
conformable to thy nature, and dost thou seek to be paid for it? just as
if the eye demanded a recompense for seeing, or the feet for walking.
For as these members are formed for a particular purpose, and by working
according to their several constitutions obtain what is their own;[A] so
also as man is formed by nature to acts of benevolence, when he has done
anything benevolent or in any other way conducive to the common
interest, he has acted conformably to his constitution, and he gets what
is his own.
[A] [Greek: Apechei to idion]. This sense of [Greek: apechein]
occurs in xi. 1, and iv. 49; also in St. Matthew, vi. 2,
[Greek: apechousi ton misthon], and in Epictetus.
X.
Wilt thou, then, my soul, never be good and simple and one and naked,
more manifest than the body which surrounds thee? Wilt thou never enjoy
an affectionate and contented disposition? Wilt thou never be full and
without a want of any kind, longing for nothing more, nor desiring
anything, either animate or inanimate, for the enjoyment of pleasures?
nor yet desiring time wherein thou shalt have longer enjoyment, or
place, or pleasant climate, or society of men with whom thou mayst live
in harmony? but wilt thou be satisfied with thy present condition, and
pleased with all that is about thee, and wilt thou convince thyself that
thou hast everything, and that it comes from the gods, that everything
is well for thee, and will be well whatever shall please them, and
whatever they shall give for the conservation of the perfect living
being,[A] 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? Wilt thou never be
such that thou shalt so dwell in community with gods and men as neither
to find fault with them at all, nor to be condemned by them?
[A] That is, God (iv. 40), as he is defined by Zeno. But the
confusion between gods and God is strange.
2. Observe what thy nature requires, so far as thou art governed by
nature only: then do it and accept it, if thy nature, so far as thou art
a living being, shall not be made worse by it. And next thou must
observe what thy nature requires so far as thou art a living being. And
all this thou mayst allow thyself, if thy nature, so far as thou art a
rational animal, shall not be made worse by it. But the rational animal
is consequently also a political [social] animal. Use these rules, then,
and trouble thyself about nothing else.
3. Everything which happens either happens in such wise as thou art
formed by nature to bear it, or as thou art not formed by nature to bear
it. If, then, it happens to thee in such way as thou art formed by
nature to bear it, do not complain, but bear it as thou art formed by
nature to bear it. But if it happens in such wise as thou art not formed
by nature to bear it, do not complain, for it will perish after it has
consumed thee. Remember, however, that thou art formed by nature to bear
everything, with respect to which it depends on thy own opinion to make
it endurable and tolerable, by thinking that it is either thy interest
or thy duty to do this.
4. If a man is mistaken, instruct him kindly and show him his error. But
if thou art not able, blame thyself, or blame not even thyself.
5. Whatever may happen to thee, it was prepared for thee from all
eternity; and the implication of causes was from eternity spinning the
thread of thy being, and of that which is incident to it (iii. 11; iv.
26).
6. Whether the universe is [a concourse of] atoms, or nature [is a
system], let this first be established, that I am a part of the whole
which is governed by nature; next, I am in a manner 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 advantage; 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 that
happens. And inasmuch as I am in a manner intimately related to the
parts which are of 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 divert them from the contrary. Now, if these things are
done so, life must flow on happily, just as thou mayst observe that the
life of a citizen is happy, who continues a course of action which is
advantageous to his fellow-citizens, and is content with whatever the
state may assign to him.
7. The parts of the whole, everything, I mean, which is naturally
comprehended in the universe, must of necessity perish; but let this be
understood in this sense, that they must undergo change. But if this is
naturally both an evil and a necessity for the parts, the whole would
not continue to exist in a good condition, the parts being subject to
change and constituted so as to perish in various ways. For whether 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 results happened without her knowing it? Both these
suppositions, indeed, are incredible. But if a man should even drop the
term Nature [as an efficient power], and should speak of these things as
natural, even then it would be ridiculous to affirm at the same time
that the parts of the whole are in their nature subject to change, and
at the same time to be surprised or vexed as if something were happening
contrary to nature, particularly as the dissolution of things is into
those things of which each thing is composed. 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 airy 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 airy part
belong to thee from the time of generation. For all this received its
accretion only yesterday and the day before, as one may say, from the
food and the air which is inspired. This, then, which has received [the
accretion], changes, not that which thy mother brought forth. But
suppose that this [which thy mother brought forth] implicates thee very
much with that other part, which has the peculiar quality [of change],
this is nothing in fact in the way of objection to what is said.[A]
[A] The end of this section is perhaps corrupt. The meaning is
very obscure. I have given that meaning which appears to be
consistent with the whole argument. The emperor here maintains
that the essential part of man is unchangeable, and that the
other parts, if they change or perish, do not affect that which
really constitutes the man. See the Philosophy of Antoninus, p.
56, note 2. Schultz supposed "thy mother" to mean nature,
[Greek: hê physis]. But I doubt about that.
8. When thou hast assumed these names, good, modest, true, rational, a
man of equanimity, and magnanimous, take care that thou dost not change
these names; and if thou shouldst lose them, quickly return to them. And
remember that the term Rational was intended to signify a discriminating
attention to every several thing, and freedom from negligence; and that
Equanimity is the voluntary acceptance of the things which are assigned
to thee 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 that poor thing called fame, and death, and all such
things. If, then, thou maintainest thyself in the possession of these
names, without desiring to be called by these names by others, thou wilt
be another person and wilt enter on another life. For to continue to be
such as thou hast hitherto been, and to be torn in pieces and defiled in
such a life, is the character of a very stupid man and one over-fond of
his life, and like those half-devoured fighters with wild beasts, who
though covered with wounds and gore, still intreat to be kept to the
following day, though they will be exposed in the same state to the same
claws and bites.[A] Therefore fix thyself in the possession of these few
names: and if thou art able to abide in them, abide as if thou wast
removed to certain islands of the Happy.[B] But if thou shalt perceive
that thou fallest out of them and dost not maintain thy hold, go
courageously into some nook where thou shalt maintain them, or even
depart at once from life, not in passion, but with simplicity and
freedom and modesty, after doing this one [laudable] thing at least in
thy life, to have gone out of it thus. In order, however to the
remembrance of these names, it will greatly help thee if thou
rememberest the gods, and that they wish not to be flattered, but wish
all reasonable beings to be made like themselves; and if thou
rememberest that what does the work of a fig-tree is a fig-tree, and
that what does the work of a dog is a dog, and that what does the work
of a bee is a bee, and that what does the work of a man is a man.
[A] See Seneca, Epp. 70, on these exhibitions which amused the
people of those days. These fighters were the Bestiarri, some
of whom may have been criminals; but even if they were, the
exhibition was equally characteristic of the depraved habits of
the spectators.
[B] The islands of the Happy, or the Fortunatae Insulae, are
spoken of by the Greek and Roman writers. They were the abode
of Heroes, like Achilles and Diomedes, as we see in the Scolion
of Harmodius and Aristogiton. Sertorius heard of the islands at
Cadiz from some sailors who had been there; and he had a wish
to go and live in them and rest from his troubles (Plutarch,
Sertorius, c. 8). In the Odyssey, Proteus told Menelaus that he
should not die in Argos, but be removed to a place at the
boundary of the earth where Rhadamanthus dwelt (Odyssey, iv.
565):--
"For there in sooth man's life is easiest:
Nor snow nor raging storm nor rain is there
But ever gently breathing gales of Zephyr
Oceanus sends up to gladden man."
It is certain that the writer of the Odyssey only follows some
old legend, without having any knowledge of any place which
corresponds to his description. The two islands which Sertorius
heard of may be Madeira and the adjacent island. Compare
Pindar, Ol. ii. 129.
9. Mimi,[A] war, astonishment, torpor, slavery, will daily wipe out
those holy principles of thine. + How many things without studying
nature dost thou imagine, and how many dost thou neglect?[B] But it is
thy duty so to look on and so 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 several thing is maintained without showing it,
but yet not concealed. For when wilt thou enjoy simplicity, when
gravity, and when the knowledge of every several 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?
[A] Corais conjectured [Greek: misos] "hatred" in place of
Mimi, Roman plays in which action and gesticulation were all or
nearly all.
[B] This is corrupt. See the addition of Schultz.
10. A spider is proud when it has caught a fly, and another when he has
caught a poor hare, and another when he has taken a little fish in a
net, and another when he has taken wild boars, and another when he has
taken bears, and another when he has taken Sarmatians. Are not these
robbers, if thou examinest their opinions?[A]
11. Acquire the contemplative way of seeing how all things change into
one another, and constantly attend to it, and exercise thyself about
this part [of philosophy]. For nothing is so much adapted to produce
magnanimity. Such a man has put off the body, and as he sees that he
must, no one knows how soon, go away from among men and leave everything
here, he gives himself up entirely to just doing in all his 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
accomplish the straight course through the law[B] and by accomplishing
the straight course to follow God.
[A] Marcus means to say that conquerors are robbers. He himself
warred against Sarmatians, and was a robber, as he says, like
the rest. But compare the life of Avidius Cassius, c. 4, by
Vulcatius.
[B] By the law he means the divine law, obedience to the will
of God.
12. What need is there of suspicious fear, since it is in thy power to
inquire what ought to be done? And if thou seest clear, go by this way
content, without turning back; but if thou dost not see clear, stop and
take the best advisers. But if any other things oppose thee, go on
according to thy powers with due consideration, keeping to that which
appears to be just. For it is best to reach this object, and if thou
dost fail, let thy failure be in attempting this. He who follows reason
in all things is both tranquil and active at the same time, and also
cheerful and collected.
13. Inquire of thyself as soon as thou wakest from sleep whether it will
make any difference to thee if another does what is just and right. It
will make no difference (vi. 32; viii. 55).
Thou hast not forgotten, I suppose, that those who assume arrogant airs
in bestowing their praise or blame on others are such as they are at bed
and at board, and thou hast not forgotten what they do, and what they
avoid, and what they pursue, and how they steal and how they rob, not
with hands and feet, but with their most valuable part, by means of
which there is produced, when a man chooses, fidelity, modesty, truth,
law, a good daemon [happiness] (vii. 17)?
14. To her who gives and takes back all, to nature, 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 well pleased
with her.
15. Short is the little which remains to thee of life. Live as on a
mountain. For it makes no difference whether a man lives there or here,
if he lives everywhere in the world as in a state [political community].
Let me 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 thus [as men do].
16. No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to
be, but be such.
17. Constantly contemplate the whole of time and the whole of substance,
and consider that all individual things as to substance are a grain of a
fig, and as to time the turning of a gimlet.
18. Look at everything that exists, and observe that it is already in
dissolution and in change, and as it were putrefaction or dispersion, or
that everything is so constituted by nature as to die.
19. Consider what men are when they are eating, sleeping, generating,
easing themselves, and so forth. Then what kind of men they are when
they are imperious + and arrogant, or angry and scolding from their
elevated place. But a short time ago to how many they were slaves and
for what things; and after a little time consider in what a condition
they will be.
20. That is for the good of each thing, which the universal nature
brings to each. And it is for its good at the time when nature brings
it.
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 not this too said that
"this or that loves [is wont] to be produced?"[A]
22. Either thou livest here and hast already accustomed thyself to it,
or thou art going away, and this was thy own will; or thou art dying and
hast discharged thy duty. But besides these things there is nothing. Be
of good cheer, then.
23. Let this always be plain to thee, that this piece of land is like
any other; and that all things here are the same with things on the top
of a mountain, or on the sea-shore, or wherever thou choosest to be. For
thou wilt find just what Plato says, Dwelling within the walls of a city
as in a shepherd's fold on a mountain. [The three last words are omitted
in the translation.][B]
[A] These words are from Euripides. They are cited by
Aristotle, Ethic. Nicom. viii. 1. Athenaeus (xiii. 296) and
Stobaeus quote seven complete lines beginning [Greek: era men
ombrou gaia]. There is a similar fragment of Aeschylus,
Danaides, also quoted by Athenaeus.
It was the fashion of the Stoics to work on the meanings of
words. So Antoninus here takes the verb [Greek: philei],
"loves," which has also the sense of "is wont," "uses," and the
like. He finds in the common language of mankind a
philosophical truth, and most great truths are expressed in the
common language of life; some understand them, but most people
utter them without knowing how much they mean.
[B] Plato, Theaet. 174 D.E. But compare the original with the
use that Antoninus has made of it.
24. What is my ruling faculty now to me? and of what nature am I now
making it? and for what purpose am I now 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. He who flies from his master is a runaway; but the law is master,
and he who breaks the law is a runaway. And he also who is grieved or
angry or afraid, + is dissatisfied because something has been or is or
shall be of the things which are appointed by him who rules all things,
and he is Law and assigns to every man what is fit. He then who fears or
is grieved or is angry is a runaway.[A]
[A] Antoninus is here playing on the etymology, of [Greek:
nomos], law, assignment, that which assigns ([Greek: nemei]) to
every man his portion.
26. A man deposits seed in a womb and goes away, and then another cause
takes it and labors on it, and makes a child. What a thing from such a
material! Again, the child passes food down through the throat, and then
another cause takes it and makes perception and motion, and in fine,
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, just as we see the power which carries things downwards and
upwards, not with the eyes, but still no less plainly (vii. 85).
27. Constantly consider how all things such as they now are, in time
past also were; and consider that they will be the same again. And place
before thy eyes entire dramas and stages of the same form, whatever thou
hast learned from thy experience or from older history; for example, the
whole court of Hadrianus, and the whole court of Antoninus, and the
whole court of Philippus, Alexander, Croesus; for all those were such
dramas as we see now, only with different actors.
28. Imagine every man who is grieved at anything or discontented to be
like a pig which is sacrificed and kicks and screams.
Like this pig also is he who on his bed in silence laments the bonds in
which we are held. And consider that only to the rational animal is it
given to follow voluntarily what happens; but simply to follow is a
necessity imposed on all.
29. Severally on the occasion of everything that thou dost, pause and
ask thyself if death is a dreadful thing because it deprives thee of
this.
30. When thou art offended at any man's fault, forthwith turn to thyself
and reflect in what like manner thou dost err thyself; for example, in
thinking that money is a good thing, or pleasure, or a bit of
reputation, and the like. For by attending to this thou wilt quickly
forget thy anger, if this consideration also is added, that the man is
compelled: for what else could he do? or, if thou art able, take away
from him the compulsion.
31. When thou hast seen Satyron[A] the Socratic,+ think of either
Eutyches or Hymen, and when thou hast seen Euphrates, think of Eutychion
or Silvanus, and when thou hast seen Alciphron think of Tropaeophorus,
and when thou hast seen Xenophon, think of Crito[B] or Severus, and when
thou hast looked on thyself, think of any other Caesar, and in the case
of every one do in like manner. Then let this thought be in thy mind,
Where then are those men? Nowhere, or nobody knows where. For thus
continuously thou wilt look at human things as smoke and nothing at all;
especially if thou reflectest at the same time that what has once
changed will never exist again in the infinite duration of time. But
thou, in what a brief space of time is thy existence? And why art thou
not content to pass through this short time in an orderly way? What
matter and opportunity [for thy activity] art thou avoiding? For what
else are all these things, except exercises for the reason, when it has
viewed carefully and by examination into their nature the things which
happen in life? Persevere then until thou shalt have made these things
thy own, as the stomach which is strengthened makes all things its own,
as the blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is
thrown into it.
32. Let it not be in any man's power to say truly of thee that thou are
not simple or that thou art not good; but let him be a liar whoever
shall think anything of this kind about thee; and this is altogether in
thy power. For who is he that shall hinder thee from being good and
simple? Do thou only determine to live no longer unless thou shalt be
such. For neither does reason allow [thee to live], if thou art not
such.[C]
[A] Nothing is known of Satyron or Satyrion; nor, I believe, of
Eutyches or Hymen. Euphrates is honorably mentioned by
Epictetus (iii. 15, 8; iv. 8, 17). Pliny (Epp. i. 10) speaks
very highly of him. He obtained the permission of the Emperor
Hadrian to drink poison, because he was old and in bad health
(Dion Cassius, 69, c. 8).
[B] Crito is the friend of Socrates; and he was, it appears,
also a friend of Xenophon. When the emperor says "seen"
([Greek: idôn]), he does not mean with the eyes.
[C] Compare Epictetus, i. 29, 28.
33. What is that which as to this material [our life] can be done or
said in the way most conformable to reason? For whatever this may be, it
is in thy power to do it or to say it, and do not make excuses that thou
art hindered. Thou wilt not cease to lament till thy mind is in such a
condition that what luxury is to those who enjoy pleasure, such shall be
to thee, in the matter which is subjected and presented to thee, the
doing of the things which are conformable to man's constitution; for a
man ought to consider as an enjoyment everything which it is in his
power to do according to his own nature. And it is in his power
everywhere. 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 and stand in the way 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. Place before thy eyes this
facility with which the reason will be carried through all things, as
fire upwards, as a stone downwards, as a cylinder down an inclined
surface, and seek for nothing further. For all other 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 nor do any harm
of any kind; for if they did, he who felt it would immediately become
bad. Now, in the case of all things which have a certain constitution,
whatever harm may happen to any of them, that which is so affected
becomes consequently worse; but in the like case, a man becomes both
better, if one may say so, and more worthy of praise by making a right
use of these accidents. And finally remember that nothing harms him who
is really a citizen, which does not harm the state; nor yet does
anything harm the state, which does not harm law [order]; and of these
things which are called misfortunes not one harms law. What then does
not harm law does not harm either state or citizen.
34. To him who is penetrated by true principles even the briefest
precept is sufficient, and any common precept, 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."[A]
Leaves, also, are thy children; and leaves, too, are they who cry out as
if they were worthy of credit and bestow their praise, or on the
contrary curse, or secretly blame and sneer; and leaves, in like manner,
are those who shall receive and transmit a man's fame to after-times.
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 forest produces
other leaves in their places. But a brief existence is common to all
things, and yet thou avoidest and pursuest all things as if they would
be eternal. A little time, and thou shalt close thy eyes; and him who
has attended thee to thy grave another soon will lament.
[A] Homer, II., vi. 146.
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 ought to be ready to perceive all that
can be heard and smelled. And the healthy stomach ought to be with
respect to all food just as the mill with respect to all things which it
is formed 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.[A] Suppose
that he was a good and wise man, will there not be at least some one to
say to himself, 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? Thou wilt consider this, then, when
thou art dying, and thou wilt 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 thy own
character, and friendly and benevolent and mild, and on the other hand
not as if thou wast torn away; but as when a man dies a quiet death, the
poor soul is easily separated from the body, such also ought thy
departure from men to be, for nature united thee to them and associated
thee. But does she now dissolve the union? Well, I am separated as from
kinsmen, not however dragged resisting, but without compulsion; for
this, too, is one of the things according to nature.
[A] He says [Greek: kakon], but as he affirms in other places
that death is no evil, he must mean what others may call an
evil, and he means only "what is going to happen."
37. Accustom thyself as much as possible on the occasion of anything
being done by any person to inquire with thyself, For what object is
this man doing this? But begin with thyself, and examine thyself first.
38. Remember that this which pulls the strings is the thing which is
hidden within: this is the power of persuasion, this is life, this, if
one may so say, is man. In contemplating thyself never include the
vessel which surrounds thee and these instruments which are attached
about it. For they are like to an axe, differing only in this, that they
grow to the body. For indeed there is no more use in these parts without
the cause which moves and checks them than in the weaver's shuttle, and
the writer's pen, and the driver's whip.[A]
[A] See the Philosophy of Antoninus, p. 72, note.
XI.
These are the properties of the rational soul: it sees itself, analyzes
itself, and makes itself such as it chooses; the fruit which it bears
itself enjoys--for the fruits of plants and that in animals which
corresponds to fruits others enjoy--it obtains its own end, wherever the
limit of life may be fixed. Not as in a dance and in a play and in such
like things, where the whole action is incomplete if anything cuts it
short; but in every part, and wherever it may be stopped, it makes what
has been set before it 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 it extends itself into the
infinity of time, and embraces and comprehends the[A] periodical
renovation 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 in a manner he who is forty years old, if he has any understanding
at all, has seen by virtue of the uniformity that prevails all things
which have been and all that will be. 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.[B]
Thus the right reason differs not at all from the reason of justice.
[A] [Greek: Tên periodikên palingenesian]. See v. 13, 32; x.
7.
[B] Law is the order by which all things are governed.
2. Thou wilt set little value on pleasing song and dancing and the
pancratium, if thou wilt distribute the melody of the voice into its
several sounds, and ask thyself as to each, if thou art mastered by
this; for thou wilt be prevented by shame from confessing it: and in the
matter of dancing, if at each movement and attitude thou wilt do the
same; and the like also in the matter of the pancratium. In all things,
then, except virtue and the acts of virtue, remember to apply thyself to
their several parts, and by this division to come to value them little:
and apply this rule also to thy whole life.
3. What a soul that is which is ready, if at any moment it must be
separated from the body, and ready either to be extinguished or
dispersed or continue to exist; but so that this readiness comes from a
man's own judgment, not from mere obstinacy, as with the Christians,[A]
but considerately and with dignity and in a way to persuade another,
without tragic show.
[A] See the Life of Antoninus. This is the only passage in
which the emperor speaks of the Christians. Epictetus (iv. 7,
6) names them Galilaei.
4. Have I done something for the general interest? Well then, I have
had my reward. Let this always be present to thy mind, and never stop
[doing such good].
5. What is thy art? To be good. And how is this accomplished well except
by general principles, some about the nature of the universe, and others
about the proper constitution of man?
6. At first tragedies were brought on the stage as 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 that which takes
place on the larger stage. For you see that these things must be
accomplished thus, and that even they bear them who cry out,[A] "O
Cithaeron." And, indeed, some things are said well by the dramatic
writers, of which kind is the following especially:--
"Me and my children if the gods neglect,
This has its reason too."[B]
And again,--
"We must not chafe and fret 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, which had a magisterial
freedom of speech, and by its very plainness of speaking was useful in
reminding men to beware of insolence; and for this purpose too Diogenes
used to take from these writers.
[A] Sophocles, Oedipus Rex.
[B] See vii. 41, 38, 40.
But as to the middle comedy, which came next, observe what it was, and
again, 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, everybody knows: but the whole plan of such
poetry and dramaturgy, to what end does it look?
7. How plain does it appear that there is not another condition of life
so well suited for philosophizing as this in which thou now happenest to
be.
8. 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 it often happens, this kind of separation, 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,
for this is something like what the gardeners mean when they say that it
grows with the rest of the tree, but+ that it has not the same mind with
it.
9. As those who try to stand in thy way when thou art proceeding
according to right reason will not be able to turn thee aside from thy
proper action, so neither let them drive thee from thy benevolent
feelings toward them, but be on thy guard equally in both matters, not
only in the matter of steady judgment and action, but also in the matter
of gentleness to those who try to hinder or otherwise trouble thee. For
this also is a weakness, to be vexed at them, as well as to be diverted
from thy course of action and to give way through fear; for both are
equally deserters from their post,--the man who does it through fear,
and the man who is alienated from him who is by nature a kinsman and a
friend.
10. There is no nature which is inferior to art, for the arts imitate
the natures of things. But if this is so, that nature which is the most
perfect and the most comprehensive of all natures, cannot fall short of
the skill of art Now all arts do the inferior things for the sake of
the superior; therefore the universal nature does so too. And, indeed,
hence is the origin of justice, and in justice the other virtues have
their foundation: for justice will not be observed, if we either care
for middle things [things indifferent], or are easily deceived and
careless and changeable (v. 16. 30; vii. 55).
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 are 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.[A] 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.
[A] Instead of [Greek: skalmê] Saumaise reads [Greek: skambê].
There is a Greek proverb, [Greek: skambon xylon oudepot
orthon]: "You cannot make a crooked stick straight."
The wolfish friendship is an allusion to the fable of the sheep
and the wolves.
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 wrong-doers to their neighbors (vii. 62, 63; ii. 1; vii. 26; viii.
29).
Fourth, consider that thou also doest 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 ...[A]
[A] It appears that there is a defect in the text here.
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 nattering 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 conformable 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[A] to acts of justice.
[A] The word [Greek: presbytera], which is here translated
"prior," may also mean "superior;" but Antoninus seems to say
that piety and reverence of the gods precede all virtues, and
that other virtues are derived from them, even justice, which
in another passage (xi. 10) he makes the foundation of all
virtues. The ancient notion of justice is that of giving to
every one his due. It is not a legal definition, as some have
supposed, but a moral rule which law cannot in all cases
enforce. Besides, law has its own rules, which are sometimes
moral and sometimes immoral; but it enforces them all simply
because they are general rules, and if it did not or could not
enforce them, so far Law would not be Law. Justice, or the
doing what is just, implies a universal rule and obedience to
it; and as we all live under universal Law, which commands both
our body and our intelligence, and is the law of our nature,
that is, the law of the whole constitution of a man, we must
endeavor to discover what this supreme Law is. It is the will
of the power that rules all. By acting in obedience to this
will, we do justice, and by consequence everything else that we
ought to do.
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 object which shall be of a common kind
[social] and political. For he who directs all his own efforts to this
object, 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.[A]
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[B] 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 it.
26. In the writings of the [Ephesians][C] there was this precept,
constantly to think of some one of the men of former times who practiced
virtue.
[A] The story is told by Horace in his Satires (ii. 6), and by
others since but not better.
[B] Perhaps the emperor made a mistake here, for other writers
say that it was Archelaus, the son of Perdiccas, who invited
Socrates to Macedonia.
[C] Gataker suggested [Greek: Epekoureiôn] for [Greek:
Ephesiôn].
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 Xanthippe 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 wilt thou be able to lay down
rules for others before thou shalt have first learned to obey rules
thyself. Much more is this so in life.
30. A slave thou art: free speech is not for thee.
31. And my heart laughed within.
_Odyssey_, ix. 413.
32. And virtue they will curse, speaking harsh words.
HESIOD, _Works and Days_, 184.
33. To look for the fig in winter is a mad-man's act: such is he who
looks for his child when it is no longer allowed (Epictetus, iii. 24,
87).
34. When a man kisses his child, said Epictetus, he should whisper to
himself, "To-morrow perchance thou wilt die."--But those are words of
bad omen.--"No word is a word of bad omen," said Epictetus, "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 corn being reaped" (Epictetus, iii. 24, 88).
35. The unripe grape, the ripe bunch, the dried grape, are all changes,
not into nothing, but into something which exists not yet (Epictetus,
iii. 24).
36. No man can rob us of our free will (Epictetus, iii. 22, 105).
37. Epictetus also said, a man must discover an art [or rules] with
respect to giving his assent; and in respect to his movements he must be
careful that they be made with regard to circumstances, that they be
consistent with social interests, that they have regard to the value of
the object; and as to sensual desire, he should altogether keep away
from it; and as to avoidance [aversion], he should not show it with
respect to any of the things which are 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 men or
irrational?--Souls of rational men.--Of what rational men, sound or
unsound?--Sound.--Why then do you not seek for them?--Because we have
them.--Why then do you fight and quarrel?
XII.
All those things at which thou wishest to arrive by a circuitous road
thou canst have now, if thou dost not refuse them to thyself. And this
means, if thou wilt take no notice of all the past, and trust the future
to providence, and direct the present only conformably to piety and
justice. Conformably to piety that thou mayest be content with the lot
which is assigned to thee, for nature designed it for thee and thee for
it. Conformably to justice, that thou mayst 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 thee, nor opinion nor voice, nor yet the sensations of
the poor flesh which has grown about thee; for the passive part will
look to this. If, then, whatever the time may be when thou shalt be near
to thy departure, neglecting everything else thou shalt respect only thy
ruling faculty and the divinity within thee, and if thou shalt be afraid
not because thou must some time cease to live, but if thou shalt fear
never to have begun to live according to nature--then thou wilt be a man
worthy of the universe which has produced thee, and thou wilt cease to
be a stranger in thy native land, and to wonder at things which happen
daily as if they were something unexpected, and to be dependent on this
or that.
2. God sees the minds [ruling principles] of all men bared of the
material vesture and rind and impurities. For with his intellectual part
alone he touches the intelligence only which has flowed and been derived
from himself into these bodies. And if thou also usest thyself to do
this, thou wilt rid thyself of thy much trouble. For he who regards not
the poor flesh which envelops him, surely will not trouble himself by
looking after raiment and dwelling and fame and such like externals and
show.
3. The things are three of which thou art composed: a little body, a
little breath [life], intelligence. Of these the first two are thine, so
far as it is thy duty to take care of them; but the third alone is
properly thine. Therefore if thou shalt separate from thyself, that is,
from thy understanding, whatever others do or say, and whatever thou
hast done or said thyself, and whatever future things trouble thee
because they may happen, and whatever in the body which envelops thee or
in the breath [life], which is by nature associated with the body, is
attached to thee independent of thy 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 thou wilt
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 wilt make thyself like Empedocles' sphere,
"All round and in its joyous rest reposing;"[A]
and if thou shalt strive to live only what is really thy life, that is,
the present,--then thou wilt be able to pass that portion of life which
remains for thee up to the time of thy death free from perturbations,
nobly, and obedient to thy own daemon [to the god that is within thee]
(ii. 13, 17; iii. 5, 6; xi. 12).
4. 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. If then 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.[B] So much more respect have
we to what our neighbors shall think of us than to what we shall think
of ourselves.
[A] The verse of Empedocles is corrupt in Antoninus. It has
been restored by Peyron from a Turin manuscript, thus:--
[Greek: Sphairos kykloterês moniê perigêthei gaiôn.]
[B] iii. 4.
5. How can it be that the gods, after having arranged all things well
and benevolently for mankind, have overlooked this alone, that some men,
and very good men, and men who, as we may say, have had most communion
with the divinity, and through pious acts and religious observances have
been most intimate 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 thou convinced
that it ought not to have been so: for thou seest even of thyself that
in this inquiry thou art disputing with the Deity; and we should not
thus dispute with the gods, unless they were most excellent and most
just; but if this is so, they would not have allowed anything in the
ordering of the universe to be neglected unjustly and irrationally.
6. Practise thyself even in the things which thou despairest 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 practised in this.
7. 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.
8. Contemplate the formative principles [forms] 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.
9. In the application of thy principles thou must be like the
pancratiast, 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 conformably to 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; 18 viii.
17).
13. How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at
anything which happens in life.
14. Either there is a fatal necessity and invincible order, or a kind
providence, or a confusion without a purpose and without a director
(iv. 27). If then there is an invincible necessity, why dost thou
resist? But if there is a providence which allows itself to be
propitiated, make thyself worthy of the help of the divinity. But if
there is a confusion without a governor, be content that in such a
tempest thou hast in thyself a certain ruling intelligence. And even if
the tempest carry thee away, let it carry away the poor flesh, the poor
breath, everything else; for the intelligence at least it will not carry
away.
15. Does the light of the lamp shine without losing its splendor until
it is extinguished? and shall the truth which is in thee and justice and
temperance be extinguished [before thy death]?
16. When a man has presented the appearance of having done wrong [say],
How then do I know if this is a wrongful act? And even if he has done
wrong, how do I know that he has not condemned himself? And so this is
like tearing his own face. Consider that he who would not have the bad
man do wrong, is like the man who would not have the fig-tree to bear
juice in the figs, and infants to cry, and the horse to neigh, and
whatever else must of necessity be. For what must a man do who has such
a character? If then thou art irritable, + cure this man's
disposition.[A]
17. If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it.
[For let thy efforts be--][B]
[A] The interpreters translate [Greek: gorgos] by the words
"acer, validusque," and "skilful." But in Epictetus (ii. 16,
20; iii. 12, 10) [Greek: gorgos] means "vehement," "prone to
anger," "irritable."
[B] There is something wrong here, or incomplete.
18. In everything always observe what the thing is which produces for
thee an appearance, and resolve it by dividing it into the formal, the
material, the purpose, and the time within which it must end.
19. Perceive at last that thou hast in thee something better and more
divine than the things which cause the various affects, and as it were
pull thee by the strings. What is there now in my mind,--is it fear, or
suspicion, or desire, or anything of the kind (v. 11)?
20. First, do nothing inconsiderately, nor without a purpose. Second,
make thy acts refer to nothing else than to a social end.
21. Consider that before long thou wilt be nobody and nowhere, nor will
any of the things exist which thou now seest, 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 thy power.
Take away then, when thou choosest, thy opinion, and like a mariner who
has doubled the promontory, thou wilt find calm, everything stable, 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 for
this reason, 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.[A] 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 neither is it
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 and congruent with the universal. For thus too he is moved
by the Deity who is moved in the same manner with the Deity, and moved
towards the same thing in his mind.
[A] vii. 25.
24. These three principles thou must have in readiness: In the things
which thou doest, do nothing either inconsiderately or otherwise than as
justice herself would act; but with respect to what may happen to thee
from without, consider that it happens either by chance or according to
providence, and thou 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 thou shouldst suddenly be raised up
above the earth, and shouldst look down on human things, and observe the
variety of them how great it is, and at the same time also shouldst 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 thou shouldst be raised
up, thou wouldst see the same things, sameness of form and shortness of
duration. Are these things to be proud of?
25. Cast away opinion: thou art saved. Who then hinders thee from
casting it away?
26. When thou art troubled about anything, thou hast forgotten this,
that all things happen according to the universal nature; and forgotten
this, that a man's wrongful act is nothing to thee; and further thou
hast 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
thou hast forgotten this too, that every man's intelligence is a god and
is an efflux of the Deity;[A] and forgotten this, that nothing is a
man's own, but that his child and his body and his very soul came from
the Deity; forgotten this, that everything is opinion; and lastly thou
hast forgotten that every man lives the present time only, and loses
only this.
[A] See Epictetus, ii. 8, 9, etc.
27. Constantly bring to thy recollection those who have complained
greatly about anything, those who have been most conspicuous by the
greatest fame or misfortunes or enmities or fortunes of any kind: then
think where are they all now? Smoke and ash and a tale, or not even a
tale. And let there be present to thy mind also everything of this sort,
how Fabius Catellinus lived in the country, and Lucius Lupus in his
gardens, and Stertinius at Briae, and Tiberius at Capreae, and Velius
Rufus [or Rufus at Velia]; and in fine think of the eager pursuit of
anything conjoined with pride;[A] and how worthless everything is after
which men violently strain; 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.
[A] [Greek: met' oiêseôs. Oiêsis kai typhos], Epict. i. 8, 6.
28. To those who ask, Where hast thou seen the gods, or how dost thou
comprehend that they exist and so worshippest them, I answer, in the
first place, they may be seen even with the eyes;[A] 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.
[A] "Seen even with the eyes." It is supposed that this may be
explained by the Stoic doctrine, that the universe is a god or
living being (iv. 40), and that the celestial bodies are gods
(viii. 19). But the emperor may mean that we know that the gods
exist, as he afterwards states it, because we see what they do;
as we know that man has intellectual powers, because we see
what he does, and in no other way do we know it. This passage
then will agree with the passage in the Epistle to the Romans
(i. _v_. 20), and with the Epistle to the Colossians (i. _v_.
15), in which Jesus Christ is named "the image of the invisible
god;" and with the passage in the Gospel of St. John (xiv. _v_.
9).
Gataker, whose notes are a wonderful collection of learning,
and all of it sound and good, quotes a passage of Calvin which
is founded on St. Paul's language (Rom. i. _v_. 20): "God by
creating the universe [or world, mundum], being himself
invisible, has presented himself to our eyes conspicuously in a
certain visible form." He also quotes Seneca (De Benef. iv. c.
8): "Quocunque te flexeris, ibi illum videbis occurrentem tibi:
nihil ab illo vacat, opus suum ipse implet." Compare also
Cicero, De Senectute (c. 22), Xenophon's Cyropaedia (viii. 7),
and Mem. iv. 3; also Epictetus, i. 6, de Providentia. I think
that my interpretation of Antoninus is right.
29. The safety of life is this, to examine everything all through, what
it is itself, that is its material, what the formal part; with all thy
soul to do justice and to say the truth. What remains, except to enjoy
life by joining one good thing to another so as not to leave even the
smallest intervals between?
30. There is one light of the sun, though it is interrupted by walls,
mountains, and other things infinite. There is one common substance,[A]
though it is distributed among countless bodies which have their several
qualities. There is one soul, though it is distributed among infinite
natures and individual circumscriptions [or 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 matter, are without sensation and have no fellowship: and yet even
these parts the intelligent principle holds together and the gravitation
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.
[A] iv. 40.
31. What dost thou wish--to continue to exist? Well, dost thou wish to
have sensation, movement, growth, and then again to cease to grow, to
use thy speech, to think? What is there of all these things which seems
to thee 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, for it is very soon 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 thou
creepest! Reflecting on all this, consider nothing to be great, except
to act as thy nature leads thee, 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 thy 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, thou hast been a citizen in this great state [the world];[A]
what difference does it make to thee 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 thee away
from the state, but nature, who brought thee into it? the same as if a
praetor who has employed an actor dismisses him from the stage.[B]--"But
I have not finished the five acts, but only three of them."--Thou sayest
well, but in life the three acts are the whole drama; for what shall be
a complete drama is determined by him who was once the cause of its
composition, and now of its dissolution: but thou art the cause of
neither. Depart then satisfied, for he also who releases thee is
satisfied.
[A] ii. 16; iii. 11; iv. 29.
[B] iii. 8; xi. 1.
INDEXES.
INDEX OF TERMS.
[Greek: adiaphora] (indifferentia, Cicero, Seneca, Epp. 82); things
indifferent, neither good nor bad; the same as [Greek: mesa].
[Greek: aischros] (turpis, Cic.), ugly; morally ugly.
[Greek: aitia], cause.
[Greek: aitiôdes], [Greek: aition], [Greek: to], the formal or formative
principle, the cause.
[Greek: akoinônêtos], unsocial.
[Greek: anaphora], reference, relation to a purpose.
[Greek: anypexairetôs], unconditionally.
[Greek: aporroia], efflux.
[Greek: aproaireta], [Greek: ta], the things which are not in our will
or power.
[Greek: archê], a first principle.
[Greek: atomoi] (corpora individua, Cic.), atoms.
[Greek: autarkeia] est quae parvo contenta omne id respuit quod abundat
(Cic.); contentment.
[Greek: autarkes], sufficient in itself; contented.
[Greek: aphormai], means, principles. The word has also other
significations in Epictetus. Index ed. Schweig.
[Greek: gignomena], [Greek: ta], things which are produced, come into
existence.
[Greek: daimôn], god, god in man, man's intelligent principle.
[Greek: diathesis], disposition, affection of the mind.
[Greek: diairesis], division of things into their parts, dissection,
resolution, analysis.
[Greek: dialektikê], ars bene disserendi et vera ac falsa dijudicandi
(Cic.).
[Greek: dialysis], dissolution, the opposite of [Greek: sygkrisis].
[Greek: dianoia], understanding; sometimes, the mind generally,
the whole intellectual power.
[Greek: dogmata] (decreta, Cic.), principles.
[Greek: dynamis noera], intellectual faculty.
[Greek: enkrateia], temperance, self-restraint.
[Greek: eidos] in divisione formae sunt, quas Graeci [Greek: eidê]
vocant; nostri, si qui haec forte tractant, species appellant (Cic.).
But [Greek: eidos] is used by Epictetus and Antoninus less exactly and
as a general term, like _genus_. Index Epict. ed. Schweig.--[Greek:
Hôs de ge ahi prôtai ousiai pros ta alla echousin, outô kai to eidos
pros to genos echei hypokeitai gar to eidos tô genei]. (Aristot. Cat.
c. 5.)
[Greek: eimarmenê] (fatalis necessitas, fatum, Cic.), destiny,
necessity.
[Greek: ekkliseis], aversions, avoidance, the turning away from
things; the opposite of [Greek: orexeiz.]
[Greek: empsycha, ta] things which have life.
[Greek: energeia], action, activity.
[Greek: ennoia], [Greek: ennoiai], notio, notiones (Cic.), or "notitiae
rerum;" notions of things. (Notionem appello quam Graeci tum [Greek:
ennoian], tum [Greek: prolêpsin], Cic.).
[Greek: enôsis], [Greek: ê], the unity.
[Greek: epistrophê], attention to an object.
[Greek: euthymia], animi tranquillitas (Cic.).
[Greek: eumenes], [Greek: to], [Greek: eumeneia], benevolence; [Greek:
eumenês] sometimes means well-contented.
[Greek: eunoia], benevolence.
[Greek: exousia], power, faculty.
[Greek: epakolouthêsin], [Greek: kata], by way of sequence.
[Greek: hêgemonikon], [Greek: to], the ruling faculty or part; principatus
(Cic.).
[Greek: theôrêmata], percepta (Cic.), things perceived, general
principles.
[Greek: kathêkein], [Greek: to], duty, "officium."
[Greek: kalos], beautiful.
[Greek: katalêpsis], comprehension; cognitio, perceptio, comprehensio
(Cic.).
[Greek: kataskeuê], constitution.
[Greek: katorthôseis, katorthômata]; recta, recte facta (Cic.); right
acts, those acts to which we proceed by the right or straight road.
[Greek: kosmos], order, world, universe.
[Greek: kosmos, ho olos], the universe, that which is the One and
the all (vi. 25).
[Greek: krima], a judgment.
[Greek: kyrieuon, to endon], that which rules within (iv. 1), the same
as [Greek: to hêgemonikon]. Diogenes Laertius vii., Zeno. [Greek:
hêgemonikon de einai to kyriôtaton tês psychês].
[Greek: logika, ta], the things which have reason.
[Greek: logikos], rational.
[Greek: logos], reason.
[Greek: logos spermatikos], seminal principle.
[Greek: mesa, ta], things indifferent, viewed with respect to
virtue.
[Greek: noeros], intellectual.
[Greek: nomos], law.
[Greek: nous], intelligence, understanding.
[Greek: oiêsis], arrogance, pride. It sometimes means in Antoninus
the same as [Greek: typhos]; but it also means "opinion."
[Greek: oikonomia] (dispositio, ordo, Cic.) has sometimes the peculiar
sense of artifice, or doing something with an apparent purpose
different from the real purpose.
[Greek: holon, to], the universe, the whole: [Greek: hê tôn olôn physis].
[Greek: onta, ta], things which exist; existence, being.
[Greek: orexis], desire of a thing, which is opposed to [Greek: ekklisis],
aversion.
[Greek: hormê], movement towards an object, appetite; appetitio,
naturalis appetitus, appetitus animi (Cic.).
[Greek: ousia], substance (vi. 49). Modern writers sometimes incorrectly
translate it "essentia." It is often used by Epictetus in the same
sense as [Greek: hylê]. Aristotle (Cat. c. 5) defines [Greek: ousia],
and it is properly translated "substantia" (ed. Jul. Pacius).
Porphyrius (Isag. c. 2): [Greek: hê ousia anôtatô ousa tô mêden pro
autês genos hên to genikôtaton].
[Greek: parakolouthêtikê dynamis, hê], the power which enables us
to observe and understand.
[Greek: peisis], passivity, opposed to [Greek: energeia]: also, affect.
[Greek: peristaseis], circumstances, the things which surround
us; troubles, difficulties.
[Greek: peprômenê, hê], destiny.
[Greek: proairesis], purpose, free will (Aristot. Rhet. i. 13).
[Greek: proaireta, ta], things which are within our will or power.
[Greek: proairetikon, to], free will.
[Greek: prothesis], a purpose, proposition.
[Greek: pronoia] (providentia, Cic.), providence.
[Greek: skopos], object, purpose.
[Greek: stoicheion], element.
[Greek: synkatathesis] (assensio, approbatio, Cic.), assent; [Greek:
synkatatheseis] (probationes, Gellius, xix. 1).
[Greek: synkrimata], things compounded (ii. 3).
[Greek: synkrisis], the act of combining elements out of which
a body is produced, combination.
[Greek: synthesis], ordering, arrangement (compositio).
[Greek: systêma], system, a thing compounded of parts which
have a certain relation to one another.
[Greek: hylê], matter, material.
[Greek: hylikon, to], the material principle.
[Greek: hypexairesis], exception, reservation; [Greek: meth'
hypexaireseôs], conditionally.
[Greek: hypothesis], material to work on; thing to employ the reason on;
proposition, thing assumed as matter for argument and to lead to
conclusions. (Quaestionum duo sunt genera; alterum infinitum, definitum
alterum. Definitum est, quod [Greek: hypothesin] Graeci, nos
_causam_: infinitum, quod [Greek: thesin] illi appellant, nos
_propositum_ possumus nominare. Cic. See Aristot. Anal. Post.
i. c. 2).
[Greek: hypokeimena, ta], things present or existing, vi. 4; or
things which are a basis or foundation.
[Greek: hypolêpsis], opinion.
[Greek: hypostasis], basis, substance, being, foundation (x. 5).
Epictetus has [Greek: to hypostatikon kai ousiôdes]. (Justinus
ad Diogn. c. 2.)
[Greek: hyphistasthai], to subsist, to be.
[Greek: phantasiai] (visus, Cic.); appearances, thoughts, impressions
(visa animi, Gellius, xix. 1): [Greek: phantasia esti
typôsis en psychê].
[Greek: phantasma], seems to be used by Antoninus in the same
sense as [Greek: phantasia]. Epictetus uses only [Greek: phantasia].
[Greek: phantaston], that which produces a [Greek: phantasia: phantaston
to tepsiêkos tên phantasian aisthêton]
[Greek: physis], nature.
[Greek: physis hê tôn olôn], the nature of the universe.
[Greek: psychê], soul, life, living principle.
[Greek: psychê logikê, noera], a rational soul, an intelligent soul
GENERAL INDEX.
*** The paragraphs (par.) and lines (l.) are those of the sections.
Active, man is by nature, ix. 16.
Advice from the good to be taken, vii. 21; viii. 16.
Affectation, vii. 60; viii. 30; xi. 18 (par. 9), 19.
Anger discouraged, vi. 26, 27; xi. 18.
Anger, offenses of, ii. 10.
Anger, uselessness of, v. 28; viii. 4.
Appearances not to be regarded, v. 36; vi. 3, 13.
Astonishment should not be felt at any thing that happens, viii. 15;
xii. 1 (sub fine), 13.
Attainment, what is within every one's, vii. 67; viii. 8.
Attention to what is said or done, vi. 53; vii. 4, 30; viii. 22.
Bad, the, ii. 1.
Beautiful, the, ii. 1.
Casual. _See_ Formal.
Change keeps the world ever new, vii. 25; viii. 50 (l. 13); xii. 23 (l.
10).
Change, law of, iv. 3 (sub f.), 36, v. 13, 23; vi. 4, 15, 36; vii. 18;
viii. 6; ix. 19, 28 (par. 2), 35; x. 7, 18; xii. 21.
Change, no evil in, iv. 42.
Christians, the xi. 3.
Circle, things come round in a, ii. 14.
Comedy, new, xi. 6.
Comedy, Old, xi. 6.
Complaining, uselessness of, viii. 17, 50.
Connection. _See_ Universe.
Conquerers are robbers, x. 10.
Contentment. _See_ Resignation.
Co-operation. _See_ Mankind and Universe.
Daemon, the, ii. 13, 17; iii. 6 (l. 8), 7, 16 (l. 18); v. 10 (sub f.)
27; xii. 3 (sub. f.).
Death, ii. 11, 12, 17; iii. 3, 7; iv. 5; v. 33; vi. 2, 24, 28; vii. 32;
viii. 20, 58; ix. 3, 21; x. 36; xii. 23, 34, 35.
Death inevitable, iii. 3; iv. 3 (l. 22), 6, 32, 48, 50; v. 33; vi. 47;
viii. 25, 31.
Desire, offenses of, ii. 10.
Destiny, iii. 11 (l. 19); iv. 26; v. 8 (l. 13, etc.), 24; vii. 57; x. 5.
Discontent. _See_ Resignation.
Doubts discussed, vi. 10; vii. 75; ix. 28, 39; xii. 5, 14.
Duty, all-importance of, vi. 2, 22; x. 22.
Earth, insignificance of the, iii. 10; iv. 3 (par. 1, sub f.); vi. 36;
viii. 21; xii. 32.
Earthly things, transitory nature of, ii. 12, 17; iv. 32, 33, 35, 48; v.
23; vi. 15, 36; vii. 21, 34; viii. 21, 25; x. 18, 31; xii. 27.
Earthly things, worthlessness of, ii. 12; v. 10, 33; vi. 15; vii. 3; ix.
24, 36; xi. 2; xii. 27.
Equanimity, x. 8.
Example, we should not follow bad, vi. 6; vii. 65.
Existence, meanness of, viii. 24.
Existence, the object of, v. 1; viii. 19.
External things cannot really harm a man, or affect the soul, ii, 11 (l.
22); iv. 3 (par. 2, sub f.); 8, 39, 49 (par. 2); v. 35; vii. 64;
viii. 1 (sub f.); 32, 51 (par. 2); ix. 31; x. 33.
Failure, x. 12.
Fame, worthlessness of, iii. 10; iv. 3 (l. 45), 19, 33 (l. 10); v. 33;
vi. 16, 18; vii. 34; viii. 1, 44; ix. 30.
Fear, what we ought to, xii. 1 (l. 18).
Fellowship. _See_ Mankind.
Few things necessary for a virtuous and happy life, ii. 5; iii. 10; vii.
67; x. 8 (l. 22).
Flattery, xi. 18 (par. 10).
Formal, the, and the material, iv. 21 (par. 2); v. 13; vii. 10, 29;
viii. 11; ix. 25; xii. 8, 10, 18.
Future, we should not be anxious about the, vii. 8; viii. 11; ix. 25;
xii. 1.
Gods, perfect justice of the, xii. 5 (par. 2).
Gods, the, vi. 44; xii. 28.
Gods, the, cannot be evil, ii. 11; vi. 44.
Good, the, ii. 1.
Habit of thought, v. 16.
Happiness, what is true, v. 9 (sub f.), 34; viii. 1; x. 33.
Help to be accepted from others, xii. 7.
Heroism, true, xi. 18 (par. 10).
Ignorance. _See_ Wrong-doing.
Independence. _See_ Self-reliance.
Indifferent things, ii. 11 (sub f.); ix. 39; vi 32; ix, 1; (l. 30).
Individual, the. _See_ Interests.
Infinity. _See_ Time.
Ingratitude. _See_ Mankind.
Injustice, ix. 1.
Intelligent soul, rational beings participate in the same, iv. 40; ix.
8, 9; x. 1 (l. 15); xii. 26, 30.
Interests of the whole and the individual identical, iv. 23; v. 8 (l.
34); vi. 45, 54; x. 6, 20, 33 (sub f.); xii. 23 (l. 12).
Justice, v. 34; x. 11; xi. 10.
Justice and reason identical, xi. 1 (sub f.).
Justice prevails everywhere, iv. 10.
Leisure, we ought to have some, viii. 51.
Life, a good, everywhere possible, v. 16.
Life can only be lived once, ii. 14; x. 31 (l. 11).
Life, shortness of, ii. 4, 17; iii. 10, 14; iv. 17, 48 (sub f.). 50; vi.
15, 36, 56; x. 31, 34.
Life to be made a proper use of, without delay, ii. 4; iii. 1, 14; iv.
17, 37; vii. 56; viii. 22; x. 31 (l. 14); xii. 1 (l. 18).
Life, whether long or short, matters not, vi. 49; ix. 33; xii. 36.
Magnanimity, x. 8.
Mankind, co-operation and fellowship of, one with another; ii. 1 (l.
11), 16; iii. 4 (sub f.); 11 (sub f.); iv. 4, 33 (sub f.); v.
16 (l. 11), 20; vi. 7, 14 (sub f.), 23, 39; vii. 5, 13, 22, 55;
viii. 12, 26, 34, 43, 59; ix. 1, 9 (sub f.), 23, 31, 42 (sub.
f.); x. 36, (l. 16); xi. 8, 21; xii. 20.
Mankind, folly and baseness of, v. 10 (l. 9); ix. 2, 3 (l. 13), 29; x.
15, 19.
Mankind, ingratitude of, x. 36.
Material, the. _See_ Formal.
Nature, after products of, iii. 2; vi. 36.
Nature, bounds fixed by, v. 1.
Nature, man formed by, to bear all that happens to him, v. 18; viii. 46.
Nature, nothing evil, which is according to, ii. 17 (sub f.); vi. 33.
Nature of the universe. _See_ Universe, nothing that happens is contrary
to the nature of the.
Nature, perfect beauty of, iii. 2; vi. 36.
Nature, we should live according to, iv. 48 (sub. f.), 51; v. 3. 25; vi.
16 (l. 12); vii. 15, 55; viii. 1, 54; x. 33.
New, nothing, under the sun, ii. 14 (l. 11); iv. 44; vi. 37, 46; vii. 1,
49; viii. 6; ix. 14; x. 27; xi. 1.
Object, we should always act with a view to some, ii. 7, 16 (l. 12);
iii. 4; iv. 2; viii. 17; x. 37; xi. 21; xii. 20.
Obsolete, all things become, iv. 33.
Omissions, sins of, ix. 5.
Opinion, iv. 3 (par. 2) (sub f.), 7, 12, 39; vi. 52, 57; vii. 2, 14, 16,
26, 68; viii. 14, 29, 40, 47, 49; ix. 13, 29 (l. 12), 32, 42
(l. 21); x. 3; xi. 16, 18; xii. 22, 25.
Others' conduct not to be inquired into, iii. 4; iv. 18; v. 25.
Others, opinion of, to be disregarded, viii. 1 (l. 12); x. 8 (l. 12),
11; xi. 13; xii. 4.
Others, we should be lenient towards, ii. 13 (sub f.); iii. 11 (sub f.);
iv. 3 (l. 16); v. 33 (l. 17); vi. 20, 27; vii. 26, 62, 63, 70;
ix. 11, 27; x. 4; xi. 9, 13, 18; xii. 16.
Others, we should examine the ruling principles of; iv. 38; ix. 18, 22,
27, 34.
Ourselves often to blame for expecting men to act contrary to their
nature, ix. 42 (l. 31).
Ourselves, reformation should begin with, xi. 29.
Ourselves, we should judge, x. 30; xi. 18 (par. 4).
Pain, vii. 33, 64; viii. 28.
Perfection not to be expected in this world, ix. 29 (l. 7).
Perseverance, v. 9; x. 12.
Persuasion, to be used, vi. 50.
Perturbation, vi. 16 (sub f.); viii. 58; ix. 31.
Pessimism, ix. 35.
Philosophy, v. 9; vi. 12; ix. 41 (l. 15).
Pleasure, he who pursues, is guilty of impiety, ix. 1 (l. 24).
Pleasures are enjoyed by the bad, vi. 34; ix. 1 (l. 30).
Power, things in our own, v. 5, 10 (sub f.); vi. 32, 41, 52, 58; vii. 2,
14, 54, 68; x. 32, 33.
Power, things not in our own, v. 33 (sub f.); vi. 41.
Practice is good, even in things which we despair of accomplishing, xii.
6.
Praise, worthlessness of, iii. 4 (sub f.); iv. 20: vi. 16, 59; vii. 62;
viii. 52, 53; ix. 34.
Prayer, the right sort of, v. 7; ix. 40.
Present time the only thing a man really possesses, ii. 14; iii. 10;
viii. 44; xii. 3 (sub f.)
Procrastination, _See_ Life to be made a proper use of, etc.
Puppet pulled by strings of desire, ii. 2; iii. 16; vi. 16, 28; vii. 3,
29; xii. 19.
Rational soul. _See_ Ruling part.
Rational soul, spherical form of the, viii. 41 (sub f.); xi. 12; xii. 3
(and _see_ Ruling part).
Reason, all-prevailing, v. 32; vi. 1, 40.
Reason and nature identical, vii. 11.
Reason the, can adapt everything that happens to its own use, v. 20; vi.
8; vii. 68 (l. 16); viii. 35; x. 31 (sub f.).
Reason, we should live according to. _See_ Nature.
Repentance does not follow renouncement of pleasure, viii. 10.
Resignation and contentment, iii. 4 (l. 27, etc.), 16 (l. 10, etc.); iv.
23, 31, 33 (sub f.), 34; v. 8 (sub f.), 33 (l. 16); vi. 16 (sub f.),
44, 49; vii. 27, 57; ix. 37; x. 1, 11, 14, 25, 28, 35.
Revenge, best kind of, vi. 6.
Rising from bed, v. 1; viii. 11.
Ruling part, the, ii. 2; iv. 11, 19, 21, 26; vi. 14, 35; vii. 16, 55
(par. 2); viii. 45, 48, 56, 57, 60, 61; ix. 15, 26; x. 24,
33 (l. 21), 38; xi. 1, 19, 20; xii. 3, 14.
Self-reliance and steadfastness of soul, iii. 5 (sub f.), 12; iv. 14, 29
(l. 5), 49 (par. 1); v. 3, 34 (l. 5); vi. 44 (l. 15); vii. 12, 15; ix.
28 (l. 8), 29 (sub f.); xii. 14.
Self-restraint, v. 33 (sub f.).
Self, we should retire into, iv. 3 (l. 4 and par. 2); vii. 28, 33, 59;
viii. 48.
Senses, movements of the, to be disregarded, v. 31 (l. 10); vii. 55
(par. 2); viii. 26, 39; x. 8 (l. 13); xi. 19; xii. 1 (l. 18).
Sickness, behavior in, ix. 41.
Social. _See_ Mankind.
Steadfastness of soul. _See_ Self-reliance.
Substance, the universal, iv. 40; v. 24; vii. 19, 23; xii. 30.
Suicide, v. 29; viii. 47 (sub f.); x. 8 (l. 35).
Time compared to a river, iv. 43.
Time, infinity of, iv. 3 (l. 35), 50 (sub f.); v. 24; ix. 32; xii. 7,
32.
Tragedy, xi. 6.
Tranquillity of soul, iv. 3; vi. 11; vii. 68; viii. 28.
Ugly, the, ii. 1.
Unintelligible things, v. 10.
Universe, harmony of the, iv. 27, 45; v. 8 (l. 14).
Universe, intimate connection and co-operation of all things in the, one
with another, ii. 3, 9; iv. 29; v. 8, 30; vi. 38, 42, 43; vii. 9, 19,
68 (sub f.); viii. 7; ix. 1; x. 1.
Universe, nothing that dies falls out of the, viii. 18, 50 (l. 13); x. 7
(l. 25).
Universe, nothing that happens is contrary to the nature of the, v. 8,
10 (sub f.); vi. 9, 58; viii. 5; xii. 26.
Unnecessary things, v. 45.
Unnecessary thoughts, words, and actions, iii. 4; iv. 24.
Vain professions, x. 16; xi. 15.
Virtue, vi. 17.
Virtue its own reward, v. 6; vii. 73; ix. 42 (l. 47); xi. 4.
Virtue, omnipotence of, iv. 16.
Virtue, pleasure in contemplating, vi. 48.
Whole, integrity of the, to be preserved, v. 8 (sub f.).
Whole, the. _See_ Interests.
Wickedness has always existed, vii. 1.
Wickedness must exist in the world, viii. 15, 50; ix. 42; xi. 18 (par.
ii); xii. 16.
Worst evil, the, ix. 2 (l. 9.)
Worth and importance, things of real, iv. 33 (sub f.); v. 10 (l. 16);
vi. 16, 30 (l. 7), 47 (sub f.); vii. 20, 44, 46, 58, 66; viii. 2,
3, 5; ix. 6, 12; x. 8 (l. 27), 11; xii. 1, 27, 31, 33.
Wrong-doing cannot really harm any one, vii. 22; viii. 55; ix. 42 (l.
25); x. 13 (par. 1); xi. 18 (par. 7).
Wrong-doing injures the wrong-doer, iv. 26; ix. 4, 38; xi. 18 (par. 3).
Wrong-doing owing to ignorance, ii. 1, 13; vi. 27; vii. 22, 26, 62, 63;
xi. 18 (par. 3); xii. 22.
Wrong-doing to be left where it is, vii. 29; ix. 20.
THE END.
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