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5/28/2018 MarcusMeditations-slidepdf.com http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/marcus-meditations 1/67 The Meditations Marcus Aurelius Written 167 A.D./C.E. © 2008 Student Handouts, Inc. www.studenthandouts.com Book One 2 Book Two 6 Book Three 10 Book Four 14 Book Five 20 Book Six 26 Book Seven 33 Book Eight 39 Book Nine 46 Book Ten 52 Book Eleven 58 Book Twelve 64
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  • The Meditations

    Marcus Aurelius

    Written 167 A.D./C.E.

    2008 Student Handouts, Inc. www.studenthandouts.com

    Book One 2

    Book Two 6

    Book Three 10

    Book Four 14

    Book Five 20

    Book Six 26

    Book Seven 33

    Book Eight 39

    Book Nine 46

    Book Ten 52

    Book Eleven 58

    Book Twelve 64

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 2 of 67

    Book One

    From my grandfather Verus I learned goodmorals and the government of my temper.

    From the reputation and remembrance of myfather, modesty and a manly character.

    From my mother, piety and beneficence, andabstinence, not only from evil deeds, but even fromevil thoughts; and further, simplicity in my way ofliving, far removed from the habits of the rich.

    From my great-grandfather, not to havefrequented public schools, and to have had goodteachers at home, and to know that on such things aman should spend liberally.

    From my governor, to be neither of the greennor of the blue party at the games in the Circus, nora partizan either of the Parmularius or the Scutariusat the gladiators' fights; from him too I learnedendurance of labour, and to want little, and to workwith my own hands, and not to meddle with otherpeople's affairs, and not to be ready to listen toslander.

    From Diognetus, not to busy myself abouttrifling things, and not to give credit to what was saidby miracle-workers and jugglers about incantationsand the driving away of daemons and such things;and not to breed quails for fighting, nor to givemyself up passionately to such things; and to endurefreedom of speech; and to have become intimate withphilosophy; and to have been a hearer, first ofBacchius, then of Tandasis and Marcianus; and tohave written dialogues in my youth; and to havedesired a plank bed and skin, and whatever else ofthe kind belongs to the Grecian discipline.

    From Rusticus I received the impression thatmy character required improvement and discipline;and from him I learned not to be led astray tosophistic emulation, nor to writing on speculativematters, nor to delivering little hortatory orations, norto showing myself off as a man who practises muchdiscipline, 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 housein my outdoor dress, nor to do other things of thekind; and to write my letters with simplicity, like theletter which Rusticus wrote from Sinuessa to mymother; and with respect to those who have offendedme by words, or done me wrong, to be easilydisposed to be pacified and reconciled, as soon asthey have shown a readiness to be reconciled; and toread carefully, and not to be satisfied with asuperficial understanding of a book; nor hastily togive my assent to those who talk overmuch; and I amindebted to him for being acquainted with thediscourses of Epictetus, which he communicated tome out of his own collection.

    From Apollonius I learned freedom of willand undeviating steadiness of purpose; and to look tonothing else, not even for a moment, except toreason; and to be always the same, in sharp pains, onthe occasion of the loss of a child, and in long illness;and to see clearly in a living example that the sameman can be both most resolute and yielding, and notpeevish in giving his instruction; and to have hadbefore my eyes a man who clearly considered hisexperience and his skill in expounding philosophicalprinciples as the smallest of his merits; and from himI learned how to receive from friends what areesteemed favours, without being either humbled bythem or letting them pass unnoticed.

    From Sextus, a benevolent disposition, andthe example of a family governed in a fatherlymanner, and the idea of living conformably to nature;and gravity without affectation, and to look carefullyafter the interests of friends, and to tolerate ignorantpersons, and those who form opinions withoutconsideration: he had the power of readilyaccommodating himself to all, so that intercoursewith him was more agreeable than any flattery; andat the same time he was most highly venerated bythose who associated with him: and he had thefaculty both of discovering and ordering, in an

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 3 of 67

    intelligent and methodical way, the principlesnecessary for life; and he never showed anger or anyother passion, but was entirely free from passion, andalso most affectionate; and he could expressapprobation without noisy display, and he possessedmuch knowledge without ostentation.

    From Alexander the grammarian, to refrainfrom fault-finding, and not in a reproachful way tochide those who uttered any barbarous or solecisticor strange-sounding expression; but dexterously tointroduce the very expression which ought to havebeen used, and in the way of answer or givingconfirmation, or joining in an inquiry about the thingitself, not about the word, or by some other fitsuggestion.

    From Fronto I learned to observe what envy,and duplicity, and hypocrisy are in a tyrant, and thatgenerally those among us who are called Patriciansare rather deficient in paternal affection.

    From Alexander the Platonic, not frequentlynor without necessity to say to any one, or to write ina letter, that I have no leisure; nor continually toexcuse the neglect of duties required by our relationto those with whom we live, by alleging urgentoccupations.

    From Catulus, not to be indifferent when afriend finds fault, even if he should find fault withoutreason, but to try to restore him to his usualdisposition; and to be ready to speak well of teachers,as it is reported of Domitius and Athenodotus; and tolove my children truly.

    From my brother Severus, to love my kin,and to love truth, and to love justice; and through himI learned to know Thrasea, Helvidius, Cato, Dion,Brutus; and from him I received the idea of a polityin which there is the same law for all, a polityadministered with regard to equal rights and equalfreedom of speech, and the idea of a kinglygovernment which respects most of all the freedomof the governed; I learned from him also consistencyand undeviating steadiness in my regard for

    philosophy; and a disposition to do good, and to giveto others readily, and to cherish good hopes, and tobelieve that I am loved by my friends; and in him Iobserved no concealment of his opinions with respectto those whom he condemned, and that his friendshad no need to conjecture what he wished or did notwish, but it was quite plain.

    From Maximus I learned self-government,and not to be led aside by anything; and cheerfulnessin all circumstances, as well as in illness; and a justadmixture in the moral character of sweetness anddignity, and to do what was set before me withoutcomplaining. I observed that everybody believed thathe thought as he spoke, and that in all that he did henever had any bad intention; and he never showedamazement and surprise, and was never in a hurry,and never put off doing a thing, nor was perplexednor dejected, nor did he ever laugh to disguise hisvexation, nor, on the other hand, was he everpassionate or suspicious. He was accustomed to doacts of beneficence, and was ready to forgive, andwas free from all falsehood; and he presented theappearance of a man who could not be diverted fromright rather than of a man who had been improved. Iobserved, too, that no man could ever think that hewas despised by Maximus, or ever venture to thinkhimself a better man. He had also the art of beinghumorous in an agreeable way.

    In my father I observed mildness of temper,and unchangeable resolution in the things which hehad determined after due deliberation; and novainglory in those things which men call honours;and a love of labour and perseverance; and areadiness to listen to those who had anything topropose for the common weal; and undeviatingfirmness in giving to every man according to hisdeserts; and a knowledge derived from experience ofthe occasions for vigorous action and for remission.And I observed that he had overcome all passion forboys; and he considered himself no more than anyother citizen; and he released his friends from all

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 4 of 67

    obligation to sup with him or to attend him ofnecessity when he went abroad, and those who hadfailed to accompany him, by reason of any urgentcircumstances, always found him the same. Iobserved too his habit of careful inquiry in all mattersof deliberation, and his persistency, and that he neverstopped his investigation through being satisfied withappearances which first present themselves; and thathis disposition was to keep his friends, and not to besoon tired of them, nor yet to be extravagant in hisaffection; and to be satisfied on all occasions, andcheerful; and to foresee things a long way off, and toprovide for the smallest without display; and to checkimmediately popular applause and all flattery; and tobe ever watchful over the things which werenecessary for the administration of the empire, and tobe a good manager of the expenditure, and patientlyto endure the blame which he got for such conduct;and he was neither superstitious with respect to thegods, nor did he court men by gifts or by trying toplease them, or by flattering the populace; but heshowed sobriety in all things and firmness, and neverany mean thoughts or action, nor love of novelty.And the things which conduce in any way to thecommodity of life, and of which fortune gives anabundant supply, he used without arrogance andwithout excusing himself; so that when he had them,he enjoyed them without affectation, and when hehad them not, he did not want them. No one couldever say of him that he was either a sophist or ahome-bred flippant slave or a pedant; but every oneacknowledged him to be a man ripe, perfect, aboveflattery, able to manage his own and other men'saffairs. Besides this, he honoured those who weretrue philosophers, and he did not reproach those whopretended to be philosophers, nor yet was he easilyled by them. He was also easy in conversation, andhe made himself agreeable without any offensiveaffectation. He took a reasonable care of his body'shealth, 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 orof medicine or external applications. He was mostready to give way without envy to those whopossessed any particular faculty, such as that ofeloquence or knowledge of the law or of morals, or ofanything else; and he gave them his help, that eachmight enjoy reputation according to his deserts; andhe always acted conformably to the institutions of hiscountry, without showing any affectation of doing so.Further, he was not fond of change nor unsteady, buthe loved to stay in the same places, and to employhimself about the same things; and after hisparoxysms of headache he came immediately freshand vigorous to his usual occupations. His secretswere not but very few and very rare, and these onlyabout public matters; and he showed prudence andeconomy in the exhibition of the public spectaclesand the construction of public buildings, hisdonations to the people, and in such things, for hewas a man who looked to what ought to be done, notto the reputation which is got by a man's acts. He didnot take the bath at unseasonable hours; he was notfond of building houses, nor curious about what heate, nor about the texture and colour of his clothes,nor about the beauty of his slaves. His dress camefrom Lorium, his villa on the coast, and fromLanuvium generally. We know how he behaved tothe toll-collector at Tusculum who asked his pardon;and such was all his behaviour. There was in himnothing harsh, nor implacable, nor violent, nor, asone may say, anything carried to the sweating point;but he examined all things severally, as if he hadabundance of time, and without confusion, in anorderly way, vigorously and consistently. And thatmight be applied to him which is recorded ofSocrates, that he was able both to abstain from, andto enjoy, those things which many are too weak toabstain from, and cannot enjoy without excess. But tobe strong enough both to bear the one and to be soberin the other is the mark of a man who has a perfect

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 5 of 67

    and invincible soul, such as he showed in the illnessof Maximus.

    To the gods I am indebted for having goodgrandfathers, good parents, a good sister, goodteachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends,nearly everything good. Further, I owe it to the godsthat I was not hurried into any offence against any ofthem, though I had a disposition which, ifopportunity had offered, might have led me to dosomething of this kind; but, through their favour,there never was such a concurrence of circumstancesas put me to the trial. Further, I am thankful to thegods that I was not longer brought up with mygrandfather's concubine, and that I preserved theflower of my youth, and that I did not make proof ofmy virility before the proper season, but evendeferred the time; that I was subjected to a ruler anda father who was able to take away all pride from me,and to bring me to the knowledge that it is possiblefor a man to live in a palace without wanting eitherguards or embroidered dresses, or torches andstatues, and such-like show; but that it is in such aman's power to bring himself very near to the fashionof a private person, without being for this reasoneither meaner in thought, or more remiss in action,with respect to the things which must be done for thepublic interest in a manner that befits a ruler. I thankthe gods for giving me such a brother, who was ableby his moral character to rouse me to vigilance overmyself, and who, at the same time, pleased me by hisrespect and affection; that my children have not beenstupid nor deformed in body; that I did not makemore proficiency in rhetoric, poetry, and the otherstudies, in which I should perhaps have beencompletely engaged, if I had seen that I was makingprogress in them; that I made haste to place thosewho brought me up in the station of honour, whichthey seemed to desire, without putting them off withhope of my doing it some time after, because theywere then still young; that I knew Apollonius,Rusticus, Maximus; that I received clear and frequent

    impressions about living according to nature, andwhat kind of a life that is, so that, so far as dependedon the gods, and their gifts, and help, andinspirations, nothing hindered me from forthwithliving according to nature, though I still fall short ofit through my own fault, and through not observingthe admonitions of the gods, and, I may almost say,their direct instructions; that my body has held out solong in such a kind of life; that I never touched eitherBenedicta or Theodotus, and that, after having falleninto amatory passions, I was cured; and, though I wasoften out of humour with Rusticus, I never didanything of which I had occasion to repent; that,though it was my mother's fate to die young, shespent the last years of her life with me; that,whenever I wished to help any man in his need, or onany other occasion, I was never told that I had not themeans of doing it; and that to myself the samenecessity never happened, to receive anything fromanother; that I have such a wife, so obedient, and soaffectionate, and so simple; that I had abundance ofgood masters for my children; and that remedies havebeen shown to me by dreams, both others, andagainst bloodspitting and giddiness...; and that, whenI had an inclination to philosophy, I did not fall intothe hands of any sophist, and that I did not waste mytime on writers of histories, or in the resolution ofsyllogisms, or occupy myself about the investigationof appearances in the heavens; for all these thingsrequire the help of the gods and fortune.

    Among the Quadi at the Granua.

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 6 of 67

    Book Two

    Begin the morning by saying to thyself, Ishall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful,arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All thesethings happen to them by reason of their ignorance ofwhat is good and evil. But I who have seen the natureof the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad that itis ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, thatit is akin to me, not only of the same blood or seed,but that it participates in the same intelligence andthe same portion of the divinity, I can neither beinjured by any of them, for no one can fix on mewhat is ugly, nor can I be angry with my kinsman,nor hate him, For we are made for co-operation, likefeet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of theupper and lower teeth. To act against one anotherthen is contrary to nature; and it is acting against oneanother to be vexed and to turn away.

    Whatever this is that I am, it is a little fleshand breath, and the ruling part. Throw away thybooks; no longer distract thyself: it is not allowed;but as if thou wast now dying, despise the flesh; it isblood and bones and a network, a contexture ofnerves, veins, and arteries. See the breath also, whatkind of a thing it is, air, and not always the same, butevery moment sent out and again sucked in. The thirdthen is the ruling part: consider thus: Thou art an oldman; no longer let this be a slave, no longer be pulledby the strings like a puppet to unsocial movements,no longer either be dissatisfied with thy present lot,or shrink from the future.

    All that is from the gods is full ofProvidence. That which is from fortune is notseparated from nature or without an interweaving andinvolution with the things which are ordered byProvidence. From thence all things flow; and there isbesides necessity, and that which is for the advantageof the whole universe, of which thou art a part. Butthat is good for every part of nature which the natureof the whole brings, and what serves to maintain this

    nature. Now the universe is preserved, as by thechanges of the elements so by the changes of thingscompounded of the elements. Let these principles beenough for thee, let them always be fixed opinions.But cast away the thirst after books, that thou mayestnot die murmuring, but cheerfully, truly, and fromthy heart thankful to the gods.

    Remember how long thou hast been puttingoff these things, and how often thou hast received anopportunity from the gods, and yet dost not use it.Thou must now at last perceive of what universe thouart a part, and of what administrator of the universethy existence is an efflux, and that a limit of time isfixed for thee, which if thou dost not use for clearingaway the clouds from thy mind, it will go and thouwilt go, and it will never return.

    Every moment think steadily as a Roman anda man to do what thou hast in hand with perfect andsimple dignity, and feeling of affection, and freedom,and justice; and to give thyself relief from all otherthoughts. And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thoudoest every act of thy life as if it were the last, layingaside all carelessness and passionate aversion fromthe commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, andself-love, and discontent with the portion which hasbeen given to thee. Thou seest how few the thingsare, the which if a man lays hold of, he is able to livea life which flows in quiet, and is like the existenceof the gods; for the gods on their part will requirenothing more from him who observes these things.

    Do wrong to thyself, do wrong to thyself, mysoul; but thou wilt no longer have the opportunity ofhonouring thyself. Every man's life is sufficient. Butthine is nearly finished, though thy soul reverencesnot itself but places thy felicity in the souls of others.

    Do the things external which fall upon theedistract thee? Give thyself time to learn somethingnew and good, and cease to be whirled around. Butthen thou must also avoid being carried about theother way. For those too are triflers who havewearied themselves in life by their activity, and yet

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 7 of 67

    have no object to which to direct every movement,and, in a word, all their thoughts.

    Through not observing what is in the mind ofanother a man has seldom been seen to be unhappy;but those who do not observe the movements of theirown minds must of necessity be unhappy.

    This thou must always bear in mind, what isthe nature of the whole, and what is my nature, andhow this is related to that, and what kind of a part itis of what kind of a whole; and that there is no onewho hinders thee from always doing and saying thethings which are according to the nature of whichthou art a part.

    Theophrastus, in his comparison of bad acts-such a comparison as one would make in accordancewith the common notions of mankind- says, like atrue philosopher, that the offences which arecommitted through desire are more blameable thanthose which are committed through anger. For hewho is excited by anger seems to turn away fromreason with a certain pain and unconsciouscontraction; but he who offends through desire, beingoverpowered by pleasure, seems to be in a mannermore intemperate and more womanish in hisoffences. Rightly then, and in a way worthy ofphilosophy, he said that the offence which iscommitted with pleasure is more blameable than thatwhich is committed with pain; and on the whole theone is more like a person who has been first wrongedand through pain is compelled to be angry; but theother is moved by his own impulse to do wrong,being carried towards doing something by desire.

    Since it is possible that thou mayest departfrom life this very moment, regulate every act andthought accordingly. But to go away from amongmen, if there are gods, is not a thing to be afraid of,for the gods will not involve thee in evil; but ifindeed they do not exist, or if they have no concernabout human affairs, what is it to me to live in auniverse 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'spower to enable him not to fall into real evils. And asto the rest, if there was anything evil, they wouldhave provided for this also, that it should bealtogether in a man's power not to fall into it. Nowthat which does not make a man worse, how can itmake a man's life worse? But neither throughignorance, nor having the knowledge, but not thepower to guard against or correct these things, is itpossible that the nature of the universe hasoverlooked them; nor is it possible that it has made sogreat a mistake, either through want of power or wantof skill, that good and evil should happenindiscriminately to the good and the bad. But deathcertainly, and life, honour and dishonour, pain andpleasure, all these things equally happen to good menand bad, being things which make us neither betternor worse. Therefore they are neither good nor evil.

    How quickly all things disappear, in theuniverse the bodies themselves, but in time theremembrance of them; what is the nature of allsensible things, and particularly those which attractwith the bait of pleasure or terrify by pain, or arenoised abroad by vapoury fame; how worthless, andcontemptible, and sordid, and perishable, and deadthey are- all this it is the part of the intellectualfaculty to observe. To observe too who these arewhose opinions and voices give reputation; whatdeath is, and the fact that, if a man looks at it in itself,and by the abstractive power of reflection resolvesinto their parts all the things which presentthemselves to the imagination in it, he will thenconsider it to be nothing else than an operation ofnature; and if any one is afraid of an operation ofnature, he is a child. This, however, is not only anoperation of nature, but it is also a thing whichconduces to the purposes of nature. To observe toohow man comes near to the deity, and by what part ofhim, and when this part of man is so disposed.

    Nothing is more wretched than a man whotraverses everything in a round, and pries into the

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 8 of 67

    things beneath the earth, as the poet says, and seeksby conjecture what is in the minds of his neighbours,without perceiving that it is sufficient to attend to thedaemon within him, and to reverence it sincerely.And reverence of the daemon consists in keeping itpure from passion and thoughtlessness, anddissatisfaction with what comes from gods and men.For the things from the gods merit veneration fortheir excellence; and the things from men should bedear to us by reason of kinship; and sometimes even,in a manner, they move our pity by reason of men'signorance of good and bad; this defect being not lessthan that which deprives us of the power ofdistinguishing things that are white and black.

    Though thou shouldst be going to live threethousand years, and as many times ten thousandyears, still remember that no man loses any other lifethan this which he now lives, nor lives any other thanthis which he now loses. The longest and shortest arethus brought to the same. For the present is the sameto all, though that which perishes is not the same; andso 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 thisfrom him? These two things then thou must bear inmind; the one, that all things from eternity are of likeforms and come round in a circle, and that it makesno difference whether a man shall see the samethings during a hundred years or two hundred, or aninfinite time; and the second, that the longest liverand he who will die soonest lose just the same. Forthe present is the only thing of which a man can bedeprived, if it is true that this is the only thing whichhe has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has itnot.

    Remember that all is opinion. For what wassaid by the Cynic Monimus is manifest: and manifesttoo is the use of what was said, if a man receiveswhat may be got out of it as far as it is true.

    The soul of man does violence to itself, firstof all, when it becomes an abscess and, as it were, a

    tumour on the universe, so far as it can. For to bevexed at anything which happens is a separation ofourselves from nature, in some part of which thenatures of all other things are contained. In the nextplace, the soul does violence to itself when it turnsaway from any man, or even moves towards him withthe intention of injuring, such as are the souls ofthose who are angry. In the third place, the soul doesviolence to itself when it is overpowered by pleasureor by pain. Fourthly, when it plays a part, and does orsays anything insincerely and untruly. Fifthly, whenit allows any act of its own and any movement to bewithout an aim, and does anything thoughtlessly andwithout considering what it is, it being right that eventhe smallest things be done with reference to an end;and the end of rational animals is to follow the reasonand the law of the most ancient city and polity.

    Of human life the time is a point, and thesubstance is in a flux, and the perception dull, and thecomposition of the whole body subject toputrefaction, and the soul a whirl, and fortune hard todivine, and fame a thing devoid of judgement. And,to say all in a word, everything which belongs to thebody is a stream, and what belongs to the soul is adream and vapour, and life is a warfare and astranger's sojourn, and after-fame is oblivion. Whatthen is that which is able to conduct a man? Onething and only one, philosophy. But this consists inkeeping the daemon within a man free from violenceand unharmed, superior to pains and pleasures, doingnothing without purpose, nor yet falsely and withhypocrisy, not feeling the need of another man'sdoing or not doing anything; and besides, acceptingall that happens, and all that is allotted, as comingfrom thence, wherever it is, from whence he himselfcame; and, finally, waiting for death with a cheerfulmind, as being nothing else than a dissolution of theelements of which every living being is compounded.But if there is no harm to the elements themselves ineach continually changing into another, why shoulda man have any apprehension about the change and

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 9 of 67

    dissolution of all the elements? For it is according tonature, and nothing is evil which is according tonature.

    This in Carnuntum.

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 10 of 67

    Book Three

    We ought to consider not only that our life isdaily wasting away and a smaller part of it is left, butanother thing also must be taken into the account,that if a man should live longer, it is quite uncertainwhether the understanding will still continuesufficient for the comprehension of things, and retainthe power of contemplation which strives to acquirethe knowledge of the divine and the human. For if heshall begin to fall into dotage, perspiration andnutrition and imagination and appetite, and whateverelse there is of the kind, will not fail; but the powerof making use of ourselves, and filling up themeasure of our duty, and clearly separating allappearances, and considering whether a man shouldnow depart from life, and whatever else of the kindabsolutely requires a disciplined reason, all this isalready extinguished. We must make haste then, notonly because we are daily nearer to death, but alsobecause the conception of things and theunderstanding of them cease first.

    We ought to observe also that even the thingswhich follow after the things which are producedaccording to nature contain something pleasing andattractive. For instance, when bread is baked someparts are split at the surface, and these parts whichthus open, and have a certain fashion contrary to thepurpose of the baker's art, are beautiful in a manner,and in a peculiar way excite a desire for eating. Andagain, figs, when they are quite ripe, gape open; andin the ripe olives the very circumstance of their beingnear to rottenness adds a peculiar beauty to the fruit.And the ears of corn bending down, and the lion'seyebrows, and the foam which flows from the mouthof wild boars, and many other things- though they arefar from being beautiful, if a man should examinethem severally- still, because they are consequentupon the things which are formed by nature, help toadorn them, and they please the mind; so that if aman should have a feeling and deeper insight with

    respect to the things which are produced in theuniverse, there is hardly one of those which follow byway of consequence which will not seem to him to bein a manner disposed so as to give pleasure. And sohe will see even the real gaping jaws of wild beastswith no less pleasure than those which painters andsculptors show by imitation; and in an old womanand an old man he will be able to see a certainmaturity and comeliness; and the attractive lovelinessof young persons he will be able to look on withchaste eyes; and many such things will presentthemselves, not pleasing to every man, but to himonly who has become truly familiar with nature andher works.

    Hippocrates after curing many diseaseshimself fell sick and died. The Chaldaei foretold thedeaths of many, and then fate caught them too.Alexander, and Pompeius, and Caius Caesar, after sooften completely destroying whole cities, and inbattle cutting to pieces many ten thousands of cavalryand infantry, themselves too at last departed fromlife. Heraclitus, after so many speculations on theconflagration of the universe, was filled with waterinternally and died smeared all over with mud. Andlice destroyed Democritus; and other lice killedSocrates. 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 ofgods, not even there. But if to a state withoutsensation, thou wilt cease to be held by pains andpleasures, and to be a slave to the vessel, which is asmuch inferior as that which serves it is superior: forthe one is intelligence and deity; the other is earthand corruption.

    Do not waste the remainder of thy life inthoughts about others, when thou dost not refer thythoughts to some object of common utility. For thoulosest the opportunity of doing something else whenthou hast such thoughts as these, What is such aperson doing, and why, and what is he saying, andwhat is he thinking of, and what is he contriving, and

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 11 of 67

    whatever else of the kind makes us wander awayfrom the observation of our own ruling power. Weought then to check in the series of our thoughtseverything that is without a purpose and useless, butmost of all the over-curious feeling and themalignant; and a man should use himself to think ofthose things only about which if one should suddenlyask, What hast thou now in thy thoughts? Withperfect openness thou mightest, immediately answer,This or That; so that from thy words it should beplain that everything in thee is simple andbenevolent, and such as befits a social animal, andone that cares not for thoughts about pleasure orsensual enjoyments at all, nor has any rivalry or envyand suspicion, or anything else for which thouwouldst blush if thou shouldst say that thou hadst itin thy mind. For the man who is such and no longerdelays being among the number of the best, is like apriest and minister of the gods, using too the deitywhich is planted within him, which makes the manuncontaminated by pleasure, unharmed by any pain,untouched by any insult, feeling no wrong, a fighterin the noblest fight, one who cannot be overpoweredby any passion, dyed deep with justice, acceptingwith all his soul everything which happens and isassigned to him as his portion; and not often, nor yetwithout great necessity and for the general interest,imagining what another says, or does, or thinks. Forit is only what belongs to himself that he makes thematter for his activity; and he constantly thinks ofthat which is allotted to himself out of the sum totalof things, and he makes his own acts fair, and he ispersuaded that his own portion is good. For the lotwhich is assigned to each man is carried along withhim and carries him along with it. And he remembersalso that every rational animal is his kinsman, andthat 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 tonature. But as to those who live not so, he alwaysbears in mind what kind of men they are both at

    home and from home, both by night and by day, andwhat they are, and with what men they live an impurelife. Accordingly, he does not value at all the praisewhich comes from such men, since they are not evensatisfied with themselves.

    Labour not unwillingly, nor without regard tothe common interest, nor without due consideration,nor with distraction; nor let studied ornament set offthy thoughts, and be not either a man of many words,or busy about too many things. And further, let thedeity which is in thee be the guardian of a livingbeing, manly and of ripe age, and engaged in matterpolitical, and a Roman, and a ruler, who has taken hispost like a man waiting for the signal whichsummons him from life, and ready to go, having needneither of oath nor of any man's testimony. Becheerful also, and seek not external help nor thetranquility which others give. A man then must standerect, not be kept erect by others.

    If thou findest in human life anything betterthan justice, truth, temperance, fortitude, and, in aword, anything better than thy own mind'sself-satisfaction in the things which it enables thee todo according to right reason, and in the condition thatis assigned to thee without thy own choice; if, I say,thou seest anything better than this, turn to it with allthy soul, and enjoy that which thou hast found to bethe best. But if nothing appears to be better than thedeity which is planted in thee, which has subjected toitself all thy appetites, and carefully examines all theimpressions, and, as Socrates said, has detached itselffrom the persuasions of sense, and has submitteditself to the gods, and cares for mankind; if thoufindest everything else smaller and of less value thanthis, give place to nothing else, for if thou dost oncediverge and incline to it, thou wilt no longer withoutdistraction be able to give the preference to that goodthing which is thy proper possession and thy own; forit is not right that anything of any other kind, such aspraise from the many, or power, or enjoyment ofpleasure, should come into competition with that

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 12 of 67

    which is rationally and politically or practically good.All these things, even though they may seem to adaptthemselves 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 thebetter, and hold to it.- But that which is useful is thebetter.- Well then, if it is useful to thee as a rationalbeing, keep to it; but if it is only useful to thee as ananimal, say so, and maintain thy judgement withoutarrogance: only take care that thou makest the inquiryby a sure method.

    Never value anything as profitable to thyselfwhich shall compel thee to break thy promise, to losethy self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse,to act the hypocrite, to desire anything which needswalls and curtains: for he who has preferred toeverything intelligence and daemon and the worshipof 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 eitherpursuing or flying from death; but whether for alonger or a shorter time he shall have the soulinclosed in the body, he cares not at all: for even if hemust depart immediately, he will go as readily as ifhe were going to do anything else which can be donewith decency and order; taking care of this only allthrough life, that his thoughts turn not away fromanything which belongs to an intelligent animal anda member of a civil community.

    In the mind of one who is chastened andpurified thou wilt find no corrupt matter, norimpurity, nor any sore skinned over. Nor is his lifeincomplete when fate overtakes him, as one may sayof an actor who leaves the stage before ending andfinishing the play. Besides, there is in him nothingservile, nor affected, nor too closely bound to otherthings, nor yet detached from other things, nothingworthy of blame, nothing which seeks a hiding-place.

    Reverence the faculty which producesopinion. On this faculty it entirely depends whetherthere shall exist in thy ruling part any opinion

    inconsistent with nature and the constitution of therational animal. And this faculty promises freedomfrom hasty judgement, and friendship towards men,and obedience to the gods.

    Throwing away then all things, hold to theseonly which are few; and besides bear in mind thatevery man lives only this present time, which is anindivisible point, and that all the rest of his life iseither past or it is uncertain. Short then is the timewhich every man lives, and small the nook of theearth where he lives; and short too the longestposthumous fame, and even this only continued by asuccession of poor human beings, who will very soondie, and who know not even themselves, much lesshim who died long ago.

    To the aids which have been mentioned letthis one still be added:- Make for thyself a definitionor description of the thing which is presented to thee,so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in itssubstance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, andtell thyself its proper name, and the names of thethings of which it has been compounded, and intowhich it will be resolved. For nothing is soproductive of elevation of mind as to be able toexamine methodically and truly every object whichis presented to thee in life, and always to look atthings so as to see at the same time what kind ofuniverse this is, and what kind of use everythingperforms in it, and what value everything has withreference to the whole, and what with reference toman, who is a citizen of the highest city, of which allother cities are like families; what each thing is, andof what it is composed, and how long it is the natureof this thing to endure which now makes animpression on me, and what virtue I have need ofwith respect to it, such as gentleness, manliness,truth, fidelity, simplicity, contentment, and the rest.Wherefore, on every occasion a man should say: thiscomes from God; and this is according to theapportionment and spinning of the thread of destiny,and such-like coincidence and chance; and this is

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    from one of the same stock, and a kinsman andpartner, one who knows not however what isaccording to his nature. But I know; for this reason Ibehave towards him according to the natural law offellowship with benevolence and justice. At the sametime however in things indifferent I attempt toascertain the value of each.

    If thou workest at that which is before thee,following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly,without allowing anything else to distract thee, butkeeping thy divine part pure, as if thou shouldst bebound to give it back immediately; if thou holdest tothis, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfiedwith thy present activity according to nature, andwith heroic truth in every word and sound which thouutterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no manwho is able to prevent this.

    As physicians have always their instrumentsand knives ready for cases which suddenly requiretheir skill, so do thou have principles ready for theunderstanding of things divine and human, and fordoing everything, even the smallest, with arecollection of the bond which unites the divine andhuman to one another. For neither wilt thou doanything well which pertains to man without at thesame time having a reference to things divine; nor thecontrary.

    No longer wander at hazard; for neither wiltthou read thy own memoirs, nor the acts of theancient Romans and Hellenes, and the selectionsfrom books which thou wast reserving for thy oldage. Hasten then to the end which thou hast beforethee, and throwing away idle hopes, come to thy ownaid, if thou carest at all for thyself, while it is in thypower.

    They know not how many things aresignified by the words stealing, sowing, buying,keeping quiet, seeing what ought to be done; for thisis not effected by the eyes, but by another kind ofvision.

    Body, soul, intelligence: to the body belongsensations, to the soul appetites, to the intelligenceprinciples. To receive the impressions of forms bymeans of appearances belongs even to animals; to bepulled by the strings of desire belongs both to wildbeasts and to men who have made themselves intowomen, and to a Phalaris and a Nero: and to have theintelligence that guides to the things which appearsuitable belongs also to those who do not believe inthe gods, and who betray their country, and do theirimpure deeds when they have shut the doors. If theneverything else is common to all that I havementioned, there remains that which is peculiar to thegood man, to be pleased and content with whathappens, and with the thread which is spun for him;and not to defile the divinity which is planted in hisbreast, nor disturb it by a crowd of images, but topreserve it tranquil, following it obediently as a god,neither saying anything contrary to the truth, nordoing anything contrary to justice. And if all menrefuse to believe that he lives a simple, modest, andcontented life, he is neither angry with any of them,nor does he deviate from the way which leads to theend of life, to which a man ought to come pure,tranquil, ready to depart, and without any compulsionperfectly reconciled to his lot.

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 14 of 67

    Book Four

    That which rules within, when it is accordingto nature, is so affected with respect to the eventswhich happen, that it always easily adapts itself tothat which is and is presented to it. For it requires nodefinite material, but it moves towards its purpose,under certain conditions however; and it makes amaterial for itself out of that which opposes it, as firelays hold of what falls into it, by which a small lightwould have been extinguished: but when the fire isstrong, it soon appropriates to itself the matter whichis heaped on it, and consumes it, and rises higher bymeans of this very material.

    Let no act be done without a purpose, norotherwise than according to the perfect principles ofart.

    Men seek retreats for themselves, houses inthe country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou tooart wont to desire such things very much. But this isaltogether a mark of the most common sort of men,for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose toretire into thyself. For nowhere either with morequiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retirethan into his own soul, particularly when he haswithin him such thoughts that by looking into themhe is immediately in perfect tranquility; and I affirmthat tranquility is nothing else than the good orderingof the mind. Constantly then give to thyself thisretreat, and renew thyself; and let thy principles bebrief and fundamental, which, as soon as thou shaltrecur to them, will be sufficient to cleanse the soulcompletely, and to send thee back free from alldiscontent with the things to which thou returnest.For with what art thou discontented? With thebadness of men? Recall to thy mind this conclusion,that rational animals exist for one another, and that toendure is a part of justice, and that men do wronginvoluntarily; and consider how many already, aftermutual enmity, suspicion, hatred, and fighting, havebeen stretched dead, reduced to ashes; and be quiet at

    last.- But perhaps thou art dissatisfied with thatwhich is assigned to thee out of the universe.- Recallto thy recollection this alternative; either there isprovidence or atoms, fortuitous concurrence ofthings; or remember the arguments by which it hasbeen proved that the world is a kind of politicalcommunity, and be quiet at last.- But perhapscorporeal things will still fasten upon thee.- Considerthen further that the mind mingles not with thebreath, whether moving gently or violently, when ithas once drawn itself apart and discovered its ownpower, and think also of all that thou hast heard andassented to about pain and pleasure, and be quiet atlast.- But perhaps the desire of the thing called famewill torment thee.- See how soon everything isforgotten, and look at the chaos of infinite time oneach side of the present, and the emptiness ofapplause, and the changeableness and want ofjudgement in those who pretend to give praise, andthe narrowness of the space within which it iscircumscribed, and be quiet at last. For the wholeearth is a point, and how small a nook in it is this thydwelling, and how few are there in it, and what kindof people are they who will praise thee.

    This then remains: Remember to retire intothis little territory of thy own, and above all do notdistract or strain thyself, but be free, and look atthings as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as amortal. But among the things readiest to thy hand towhich thou shalt turn, let there be these, which aretwo. One is that things do not touch the soul, for theyare external and remain immovable; but ourperturbations come only from the opinion which iswithin. The other is that all these things, which thouseest, change immediately and will no longer be; andconstantly bear in mind how many of these changesthou hast already witnessed. The universe istransformation: life is opinion.

    If our intellectual part is common, the reasonalso, in respect of which we are rational beings, iscommon: if this is so, common also is the reason

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 15 of 67

    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 membersof some political community; if this is so, the worldis in a manner a state. For of what other commonpolitical community will any one say that the wholehuman race are members? And from thence, fromthis common political community comes also ourvery intellectual faculty and reasoning faculty andour capacity for law; or whence do they come? For asmy earthly part is a portion given to me from certainearth, and that which is watery from another element,and that which is hot and fiery from some peculiarsource (for nothing comes out of that which isnothing, as nothing also returns to non-existence), soalso the intellectual part comes from some source.

    Death is such as generation is, a mystery ofnature; a composition out of the same elements, anda decomposition into the same; and altogether not athing of which any man should be ashamed, for it isnot contrary to the nature of a reasonable animal, andnot contrary to the reason of our constitution.

    It is natural that these things should be doneby such persons, it is a matter of necessity; and if aman will not have it so, he will not allow the fig-treeto have juice. But by all means bear this in mind, thatwithin a very short time both thou and he will bedead; and soon not even your names will be leftbehind.

    Take away thy opinion, and then there istaken away the complaint, "I have been harmed."Take away the complaint, "I have been harmed," andthe harm is taken away.

    That which does not make a man worse thanhe was, also does not make his life worse, nor does itharm him either from without or from within.

    The nature of that which is universally usefulhas been compelled to do this.

    Consider that everything which happens,happens justly, and if thou observest carefully, thouwilt find it to be so. I do not say only with respect to

    the continuity of the series of things, but with respectto what is just, and as if it were done by one whoassigns to each thing its value. Observe then as thouhast begun; and whatever thou doest, do it inconjunction with this, the being good, and in thesense in which a man is properly understood to begood. Keep to this in every action.

    Do not have such an opinion of things as hehas who does thee wrong, or such as he wishes theeto have, but look at them as they are in truth.

    A man should always have these two rules inreadiness; the one, to do only whatever the reason ofthe ruling and legislating faculty may suggest for theuse of men; the other, to change thy opinion, if thereis any one at hand who sets thee right and moves theefrom any opinion. But this change of opinion mustproceed only from a certain persuasion, as of what isjust or of common advantage, and the like, notbecause it appears pleasant or brings reputation.

    Hast thou reason? I have.- Why then dost notthou use it? For if this does its own work, what elsedost thou wish?

    Thou hast existed as a part. Thou shaltdisappear in that which produced thee; but ratherthou shalt be received back into its seminal principleby transmutation.

    Many grains of frankincense on the samealtar: one falls before, another falls after; but it makesno difference.

    Within ten days thou wilt seem a god to thoseto whom thou art now a beast and an ape, if thou wiltreturn to thy principles and the worship of reason.

    Do not act as if thou wert going to live tenthousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thoulivest, while it is in thy power, be good.

    How much trouble he avoids who does notlook to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks,but only to what he does himself, that it may be justand pure; or as Agathon says, look not round at thedepraved morals of others, but run straight along theline without deviating from it.

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 16 of 67

    He who has a vehement desire forposthumous fame does not consider that every one ofthose who remember him will himself also die verysoon; then again also they who have succeeded them,until the whole remembrance shall have beenextinguished as it is transmitted through men whofoolishly admire and perish. But suppose that thosewho will remember are even immortal, and that theremembrance will be immortal, what then is this tothee? And I say not what is it to the dead, but what isit to the living? What is praise except indeed so far asit has a certain utility? For thou now rejectestunseasonably the gift of nature, clinging to somethingelse...

    Everything which is in any way beautiful isbeautiful in itself, and terminates in itself, not havingpraise as part of itself. Neither worse then nor betteris a thing made by being praised. I affirm this also ofthe things which are called beautiful by the vulgar,for example, material things and works of art. Thatwhich is really beautiful has no need of anything; notmore than law, not more than truth, not more thanbenevolence or modesty. Which of these things isbeautiful because it is praised, or spoiled by beingblamed? Is such a thing as an emerald made worsethan it was, if it is not praised? Or gold, ivory, purple,a lyre, a little knife, a flower, a shrub?

    If souls continue to exist, how does the aircontain them from eternity?- But how does the earthcontain the bodies of those who have been buriedfrom time so remote? For as here the mutation ofthese bodies after a certain continuance, whatever itmay be, and their dissolution make room for otherdead bodies; so the souls which are removed into theair after subsisting for some time are transmuted anddiffused, and assume a fiery nature by being receivedinto the seminal intelligence of the universe, and inthis way make room for the fresh souls which cometo dwell there. And this is the answer which a manmight give on the hypothesis of souls continuing toexist. But we must not only think of the number of

    bodies which are thus buried, but also of the numberof animals which are daily eaten by us and the otheranimals. For what a number is consumed, and thus ina manner buried in the bodies of those who feed onthem! And nevertheless this earth receives them byreason of the changes of these bodies into blood, andthe transformations into the aerial or the fieryelement.

    What is the investigation into the truth in thismatter? The division into that which is material andthat which is the cause of form, the formal.

    Do not be whirled about, but in everymovement have respect to justice, and on theoccasion of every impression maintain the faculty ofcomprehension or understanding.

    Everything harmonizes with me, which isharmonious to thee, O Universe. Nothing for me istoo early nor too late, which is in due time for thee.Everything is fruit to me which thy seasons bring, ONature: from thee are all things, in thee are all things,to thee all things return. The poet says, Dear city ofCecrops; and wilt not thou say, Dear city of Zeus?

    Occupy thyself with few things, says thephilosopher, if thou wouldst be tranquil.- Butconsider if it would not be better to say, Do what isnecessary, and whatever the reason of the animalwhich is naturally social requires, and as it requires.For this brings not only the tranquility which comesfrom doing well, but also that which comes fromdoing few things. For the greatest part of what we sayand do being unnecessary, if a man takes this away,he will have more leisure and less uneasiness.Accordingly on every occasion a man should askhimself, Is this one of the unnecessary things? Nowa man should take away not only unnecessary acts,but also, unnecessary thoughts, for thus superfluousacts will not follow after.

    Try how the life of the good man suits thee,the life of him who is satisfied with his portion out ofthe whole, and satisfied with his own just acts andbenevolent disposition.

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 17 of 67

    Hast thou seen those things? Look also atthese. Do not disturb thyself. Make thyself allsimplicity. Does any one do wrong? It is to himselfthat he does the wrong. Has anything happened tothee? Well; out of the universe from the beginningeverything which happens has been apportioned andspun out to thee. In a word, thy life is short. Thoumust turn to profit the present by the aid of reasonand justice. Be sober in thy relaxation.

    Either it is a well-arranged universe or achaos huddled together, but still a universe. But cana certain order subsist in thee, and disorder in theAll? And this too when all things are so separatedand diffused and sympathetic.

    A black character, a womanish character, astubborn character, bestial, childish, animal, stupid,counterfeit, scurrilous, fraudulent, tyrannical.

    If he is a stranger to the universe who doesnot know what is in it, no less is he a stranger whodoes not know what is going on in it. He is arunaway, who flies from social reason; he is blind,who shuts the eyes of the understanding; he is poor,who has need of another, and has not from himself allthings which are useful for life. He is an abscess onthe universe who withdraws and separates himselffrom the reason of our common nature through beingdispleased with the things which happen, for thesame nature produces this, and has produced theetoo: he is a piece rent asunder from the state, whotears his own soul from that of reasonable animals,which is one.

    The one is a philosopher without a tunic, andthe 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 mylearning, and I abide by my reason.

    Love the art, poor as it may be, which thouhast learned, and be content with it; and pass throughthe rest of life like one who has intrusted to the godswith his whole soul all that he has, making thyselfneither the tyrant nor the slave of any man.

    Consider, for example, the times ofVespasian. Thou wilt see all these things, peoplemarrying, 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 counsulship,kingly power. Well then, that life of these people nolonger exists at all. Again, remove to the times ofTrajan. Again, all is the same. Their life too is gone.In like manner view also the other epochs of time andof whole nations, and see how many after greatefforts soon fell and were resolved into the elements.But chiefly thou shouldst think of those whom thouhast thyself known distracting themselves about idlethings, neglecting to do what was in accordance withtheir proper constitution, and to hold firmly to thisand to be content with it. And herein it is necessaryto remember that the attention given to everythinghas its proper value and proportion. For thus thouwilt not be dissatisfied, if thou appliest thyself tosmaller matters no further than is fit.

    The words which were formerly familiar arenow antiquated: so also the names of those who werefamed of old, are now in a manner antiquated,Camillus, Caeso, Volesus, Leonnatus, and a littleafter also Scipio and Cato, then Augustus, then alsoHadrian and Antoninus. For all things soon passaway and become a mere tale, and complete oblivionsoon buries them. And I say this of those who haveshone in a wondrous way. For the rest, as soon asthey have breathed out their breath, they are gone,and no man speaks of them. And, to conclude thematter, what is even an eternal remembrance? A merenothing. What then is that about which we ought toemploy our serious pains? This one thing, thoughtsjust, and acts social, and words which never lie, anda disposition which gladly accepts all that happens,as necessary, as usual, as flowing from a principleand source of the same kind.

    Willingly give thyself up to Clotho, one of

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    the Fates, allowing her to spin thy thread intowhatever things she pleases.

    Everything is only for a day, both that whichremembers and that which is remembered.

    Observe constantly that all things take placeby change, and accustom thyself to consider that thenature of the Universe loves nothing so much as tochange the things which are and to make new thingslike them. For everything that exists is in a mannerthe seed of that which will be. But thou art thinkingonly of seeds which are cast into the earth or into awomb: but this is a very vulgar notion.

    Thou wilt soon die, and thou art not yetsimple, not free from perturbations, nor withoutsuspicion of being hurt by external things, nor kindlydisposed towards all; nor dost thou yet place wisdomonly in acting justly.

    Examine men's ruling principles, even thoseof the wise, what kind of things they avoid, and whatkind they pursue.

    What is evil to thee does not subsist in theruling principle of another; nor yet in any turning andmutation of thy corporeal covering. Where is it then?It is in that part of thee in which subsists the power offorming opinions about evils. Let this power then notform such opinions, and all is well. And if that whichis nearest to it, the poor body, is burnt, filled withmatter and rottenness, nevertheless let the part whichforms opinions about these things be quiet, that is, letit judge that nothing is either bad or good which canhappen equally to the bad man and the good. For thatwhich happens equally to him who lives contrary tonature and to him who lives according to nature, isneither according to nature nor contrary to nature.

    Constantly regard the universe as one livingbeing, having one substance and one soul; andobserve how all things have reference to oneperception, the perception of this one living being;and how all things act with one movement; and howall things are the cooperating causes of all thingswhich exist; observe too the continuous spinning of

    the thread and the contexture of the web. Thou art a little soul bearing about a corpse,

    as Epictetus used to say. It is no evil for things to undergo change, and

    no good for things to subsist in consequence ofchange.

    Time is like a river made up of the eventswhich happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as athing has been seen, it is carried away, and anothercomes in its place, and this will be carried away too.

    Everything which happens is as familiar andwell known as the rose in spring and the fruit insummer; for such is disease, and death, and calumny,and treachery, and whatever else delights fools orvexes them.

    In the series of things those which follow arealways aptly fitted to those which have gone before;for this series is not like a mere enumeration ofdisjointed things, which has only a necessarysequence, but it is a rational connection: and as allexisting things are arranged together harmoniously,so the things which come into existence exhibit nomere succession, but a certain wonderfulrelationship.

    Always remember the saying of Heraclitus,that the death of earth is to become water, and thedeath of water is to become air, and the death of airis to become fire, and reversely. And think too of himwho forgets whither the way leads, and that menquarrel with that with which they are most constantlyin communion, the reason which governs theuniverse; and the things which daily meet with seemto them strange: and consider that we ought not to actand speak as if we were asleep, for even in sleep weseem to act and speak; and that we ought not, likechildren who learn from their parents, simply to actand speak as we have been taught.

    If any god told thee that thou shalt dieto-morrow, or certainly on the day after to-morrow,thou wouldst not care much whether it was on thethird day or on the morrow, unless thou wast in the

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 19 of 67

    highest degree mean-spirited- for how small is thedifference?- So think it no great thing to die after asmany years as thou canst name rather thanto-morrow.

    Think continually how many physicians aredead after often contracting their eyebrows over thesick; and how many astrologers after predicting withgreat pretensions the deaths of others; and how manyphilosophers after endless discourses on death orimmortality; how many heroes after killingthousands; and how many tyrants who have usedtheir power over men's lives with terrible insolence asif they were immortal; and how many cities areentirely dead, so to speak, Helice and Pompeii andHerculaneum, and others innumerable. Add to thereckoning all whom thou hast known, one afteranother. One man after burying another has been laidout dead, and another buries him: and all this in ashort time. To conclude, always observe howephemeral and worthless human things are, and whatwas yesterday a little mucus to-morrow will be amummy or ashes. Pass then through this little spaceof time conformably to nature, and end thy journey incontent, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe,blessing nature who produced it, and thanking thetree on which it grew.

    Be like the promontory against which thewaves continually break, but it stands firm and tamesthe fury of the water around it.

    Unhappy am I because this has happened tome.- Not so, but happy am I, though this hashappened 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 everyman; but every man would not have continued freefrom pain on such an occasion. Why then is thatrather a misfortune than this a good fortune? Anddost thou in all cases call that a man's misfortune,which is not a deviation from man's nature? And doesa thing seem to thee to be a deviation from man'snature, when it is not contrary to the will of man's

    nature? Well, thou knowest the will of nature. Willthen this which has happened prevent thee frombeing just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, secureagainst inconsiderate opinions and falsehood; will itprevent thee from having modesty, freedom, andeverything else, by the presence of which man'snature obtains all that is its own? Remember too onevery occasion which leads thee to vexation to applythis principle: not that this is a misfortune, but that tobear it nobly is good fortune.

    It is a vulgar, but still a useful help towardscontempt of death, to pass in review those who havetenaciously stuck to life. What more then have theygained than those who have died early? Certainlythey 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 thenwere carried out themselves. Altogether the intervalis small between birth and death; and consider withhow much trouble, and in company with what sort ofpeople and in what a feeble body this interval islaboriously passed. Do not then consider life a thingof any value. For look to the immensity of timebehind thee, and to the time which is before thee,another boundless space. In this infinity then what isthe difference between him who lives three days andhim who lives three generations?

    Always run to the short way; and the shortway is the natural: accordingly say and do everythingin conformity with the soundest reason. For such apurpose frees a man from trouble, and warfare, andall artifice and ostentatious display.

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 20 of 67

    Book Five

    In he morning when thou risest unwillingly,let this thought be present- I am rising to the work ofa human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I amgoing to do the things for which I exist and for whichI was brought into the world? Or have I been madefor this, to lie in the bed-clothes and keep myselfwarm?- But this is more pleasant.- Dost thou existthen to take thy pleasure, and not at all for action orexertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, the littlebirds, the ants, the spiders, the bees working togetherto put in order their several parts of the universe?And art thou unwilling to do the work of a humanbeing, and dost thou not make haste to do that whichis according to thy nature?- But it is necessary to takerest also.- It is necessary: however nature has fixedbounds to this too: she has fixed bounds both toeating and drinking, and yet thou goest beyond thesebounds, beyond what is sufficient; yet in thy acts it isnot so, but thou stoppest short of what thou canst do.So thou lovest not thyself, for if thou didst, thouwouldst love thy nature and her will. But those wholove their several arts exhaust themselves in workingat them unwashed and without food; but thou valuestthy own own nature less than the turner values theturning art, or the dancer the dancing art, or the loverof money values his money, or the vainglorious manhis little glory. And such men, when they have aviolent affection to a thing, choose neither to eat norto sleep rather than to perfect the things which theycare for. But are the acts which concern society morevile in thy eyes and less worthy of thy labour?

    How easy it is to repel and to wipe awayevery impression which is troublesome or unsuitable,and immediately to be in all tranquility.

    Judge every word and deed which areaccording to nature to be fit for thee; and be notdiverted by the blame which follows from any peoplenor by their words, but if a thing is good to be doneor said, do not consider it unworthy of thee. For those

    persons have their peculiar leading principle andfollow their peculiar movement; which things do notthou regard, but go straight on, following thy ownnature and the common nature; and the way of bothis one.

    I go through the things which happenaccording to nature until I shall fall and rest,breathing out my breath into that element out ofwhich I daily draw it in, and falling upon that earthout of which my father collected the seed, and mymother the blood, and my nurse the milk; out ofwhich during so many years I have been suppliedwith food and drink; which bears me when I tread onit and abuse it for so many purposes.

    Thou sayest, Men cannot admire thesharpness of thy wits.- Be it so: but there are manyother things of which thou canst not say, I am notformed for them by nature. Show those qualities thenwhich are altogether in thy power, sincerity, gravity,endurance of labour, aversion to pleasure,contentment with thy portion and with few things,benevolence, frankness, no love of superfluity,freedom from trifling magnanimity. Dost thou not seehow many qualities thou art immediately able toexhibit, in which there is no excuse of naturalincapacity and unfitness, and yet thou still remainestvoluntarily below the mark? Or art thou compelledthrough being defectively furnished by nature tomurmur, and to be stingy, and to flatter, and to findfault with thy poor body, and to try to please men,and to make great display, and to be so restless in thymind? No, by the gods: but thou mightest have beendelivered from these things long ago. Only if in truththou canst be charged with being rather slow and dullof comprehension, thou must exert thyself about thisalso, not neglecting it nor yet taking pleasure in thydulness.

    One man, when he has done a service toanother, is ready to set it down to his account as afavour conferred. Another is not ready to do this, butstill in his own mind he thinks of the man as his

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 21 of 67

    debtor, and he knows what he has done. A third in amanner does not even know what he has done, but heis like a vine which has produced grapes, and seeksfor nothing more after it has once produced its properfruit. As a horse when he has run, a dog when he hastracked the game, a bee when it has made the honey,so a man when he has done a good act, does not callout for others to come and see, but he goes on toanother act, as a vine goes on to produce again thegrapes 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 ofwhat a man is doing: for, it may be said, it ischaracteristic of the social animal to perceive that heis working in a social manner, and indeed to wishthat his social partner also should perceive it.- It istrue what thou sayest, but thou dost not rightlyunderstand what is now said: and for this reason thouwilt become one of those of whom I spoke before, foreven they are misled by a certain show of reason. Butif thou wilt choose to understand the meaning ofwhat is said, do not fear that for this reason thou wiltomit any social act.

    A prayer of the Athenians: Rain, rain, O dearZeus, down on the ploughed fields of the Atheniansand on the plains.- In truth we ought not to pray atall, or we ought to pray in this simple and noblefashion.

    Just as we must understand when it is said,That Aesculapius prescribed to this manhorse-exercise, or bathing in cold water or goingwithout shoes; so we must understand it when it issaid, That the nature of the universe prescribed to thisman disease or mutilation or loss or anything else ofthe kind. For in the first case Prescribed meanssomething like this: he prescribed this for this man asa thing adapted to procure health; and in the secondcase it means: That which happens to (or, suits) everyman is fixed in a manner for him suitably to hisdestiny. For this is what we mean when we say thatthings are suitable to us, as the workmen say of

    squared stones in walls or the pyramids, that they aresuitable, when they fit them to one another in somekind of connexion. For there is altogether one fitness,harmony. And as the universe is made up out of allbodies to be such a body as it is, so out of all existingcauses necessity (destiny) is made up to be such acause as it is. And even those who are completelyignorant understand what I mean, for they say, It(necessity, destiny) brought this to such a person.-This then was brought and this was precribed to him.Let us then receive these things, as well as thosewhich Aesculapius prescribes. Many as a matter ofcourse even among his prescriptions are disagreeable,but we accept them in the hope of health. Let theperfecting and accomplishment of the things, whichthe common nature judges to be good, be judged bythee to be of the same kind as thy health. And soaccept everything which happens, even if it seemdisagreeable, because it leads to this, to the health ofthe universe and to the prosperity and felicity of Zeus(the universe). For he would not have brought on anyman what he has brought, if it were not useful for thewhole. Neither does the nature of anything, whateverit may be, cause anything which is not suitable to thatwhich is directed by it. For two reasons then it isright to be content with that which happens to thee;the one, because it was done for thee and prescribedfor thee, and in a manner had reference to thee,originally from the most ancient causes spun with thydestiny; and the other, because even that whichcomes severally to every man is to the power whichadministers the universe a cause of felicity andperfection, nay even of its very continuance. For theintegrity of the whole is mutilated, if thou cuttest offanything whatever from the conjunction and thecontinuity either of the parts or of the causes. Andthou dost cut off, as far as it is in thy power, whenthou art dissatisfied, and in a manner triest to putanything out of the way.

    Be not disgusted, nor discouraged, nordissatisfied, if thou dost not succeed in doing

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 22 of 67

    everything according to right principles; but whenthou bast failed, return back again, and be content ifthe greater part of what thou doest is consistent withman's nature, and love this to which thou returnest;and do not return to philosophy as if she were amaster, but act like those who have sore eyes andapply a bit of sponge and egg, or as another appliesa plaster, or drenching with water. For thus thou wiltnot fail to obey reason, and thou wilt repose in it.And remember that philosophy requires only thethings which thy nature requires; but thou wouldsthave something else which is not according tonature.- It may be objected, Why what is moreagreeable than this which I am doing?- But is not thisthe very reason why pleasure deceives us? Andconsider if magnanimity, freedom, simplicity,equanimity, piety, are not more agreeable. For whatis more agreeable than wisdom itself, when thouthinkest of the security and the happy course of allthings which depend on the faculty of understandingand knowledge?

    Things are in such a kind of envelopmentthat they have seemed to philosophers, not a few northose common philosophers, altogetherunintelligible; nay even to the Stoics themselves theyseem difficult to understand. And all our assent ischangeable; for where is the man who neverchanges? Carry thy thoughts then to the objectsthemselves, and consider how short-lived they areand worthless, and that they may be in the possessionof a filthy wretch or a whore or a robber. Then turnto the morals of those who live with thee, and it ishardly possible to endure even the most agreeable ofthem, to say nothing of a man being hardly able toendure himself. In such darkness then and dirt and inso constant a flux both of substance and of time, andof motion and of things moved, what there is worthbeing highly prized or even an object of seriouspursuit, I cannot imagine. But on the contrary it is aman's duty to comfort himself, and to wait for thenatural dissolution and not to be vexed at the delay,

    but to rest in these principles only: the one, thatnothing will happen to me which is not conformableto the nature of the universe; and the other, that it isin my power never to act contrary to my god anddaemon: for there is no man who will compel me tothis.

    About what am I now employing my ownsoul? On every occasion I must ask myself thisquestion, and inquire, what have I now in this part ofme which they call the ruling principle? And whosesoul have I now? That of a child, or of a young man,or of a feeble woman, or of a tyrant, or of a domesticanimal, or of a wild beast?

    What kind of things those are which appeargood to the many, we may learn even from this. Forif any man should conceive certain things as beingreally good, such as prudence, temperance, justice,fortitude, he would not after having first conceivedthese endure to listen to anything which should notbe in harmony with what is really good. But if a manhas first conceived as good the things which appearto the many to be good, he will listen and readilyreceive as very applicable that which was said by thecomic writer. Thus even the many perceive thedifference. For were it not so, this saying would notoffend and would not be rejected in the first case,while we receive it when it is said of wealth, and ofthe means which further luxury and fame, as saidfitly and wittily. Go on then and ask if we shouldvalue and think those things to be good, to whichafter their first conception in the mind the words ofthe comic writer might be aptly applied- that he whohas them, through pure abundance has not a place toease himself in.

    I am composed of the formal and thematerial; and neither of them will perish intonon-existence, as neither of them came into existenceout of non-existence. Every part of me then will bereduced by change into some part of the universe,and that again will change into another part of theuniverse, and so on for ever. And by consequence of

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 23 of 67

    such a change I too exist, and those who begot me,and so on for ever in the other direction. For nothinghinders us from saying so, even if the universe isadministered according to definite periods ofrevolution.

    Reason and the reasoning art (philosophy)are powers which are sufficient for themselves andfor their own works. They move then from a firstprinciple which is their own, and they make their wayto the end which is proposed to them; and this is thereason why such acts are named catorthoseis or rightacts, which word signifies that they proceed by theright road.

    None of these things ought to be called aman's, which do not belong to a man, as man. Theyare not required of a man, nor does man's naturepromise them, nor are they the means of man's natureattaining its end. Neither then does the end of man liein these things, nor yet that which aids to theaccomplishment of this end, and that which aidstowards this end is that which is good. Besides, if anyof these things did belong to man, it would not beright for a man to despise them and to set himselfagainst them; nor would a man be worthy of praisewho showed that he did not want these things, norwould he who stinted himself in any of them be good,if indeed these things were good. But now the moreof these things a man deprives himself of, or of otherthings like them, or even when he is deprived of anyof them, the more patiently he endures the loss, justin the same degree he is a better man.

    Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such alsowill be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyedby the thoughts. Dye it then with a continuous seriesof such thoughts as these: for instance, that where aman can live, there he can also live well. But he mustlive in a palace;- well then, he can also live well in apalace. And again, consider that for whateverpurpose each thing has been constituted, for this ithas 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 thegood of each thing. Now the good for the reasonableanimal is society; for that we are made for society hasbeen shown above. Is it not plain that the inferiorexist for the sake of the superior? But the thingswhich have life are superior to those which have notlife, and of those which have life the superior arethose which have reason.

    To seek what is impossible is madness: andit is impossible that the bad should not do somethingof this kind.

    Nothing happens to any man which he is notformed by nature to bear. The same things happen toanother, and either because he does not see that theyhave happened or because he would show a greatspirit he is firm and remains unharmed. It is a shamethen that ignorance and conceit should be strongerthan wisdom.

    Things themselves touch not the soul, not inthe least degree; nor have they admission to the soul,nor can they turn or move the soul: but the soul turnsand moves itself alone, and whatever judgements itmay think proper to make, such it makes for itself thethings which present themselves to it.

    In one respect man is the nearest thing to me,so far as I must do good to men and endure them. Butso far as some men make themselves obstacles to myproper acts, man becomes to me one of the thingswhich are indifferent, no less than the sun or wind ora wild beast. Now it is true that these may impede myaction, but they are no impediments to my affects anddisposition, which have the power of actingconditionally and changing: for the mind convertsand changes every hindrance to its activity into anaid; and so that which is a hindrance is made afurtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle onthe road helps us on this road.

    Reverence that which is best in the universe;and this is that which makes use of all things anddirects all things. And in like manner also reverencethat which is best in thyself; and this is of the same

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 24 of 67

    kind as that. For in thyself also, that which makes useof everything else, is this, and thy life is directed bythis.

    That which does no harm to the state, doesno harm to the citizen. In the case of everyappearance of harm apply this rule: if the state is notharmed by this, neither am I harmed. But if the stateis harmed, thou must not be angry with him who doesharm to the state. Show him where his error is.

    Often think of the rapidity with which thingspass by and disappear, both the things which are andthe things which are produced. For substance is likea river in a continual flow, and the activities of thingsare in constant change, and the causes work ininfinite varieties; and there is hardly anything whichstands still. And consider this which is near to thee,this boundless abyss of the past and of the future inwhich all things disappear. How then is he not a foolwho is puffed up with such things or plagued aboutthem and makes himself miserable? for they vex himonly for a time, and a short time.

    Think of the universal substance, of whichthou hast a very small portion; and of universal time,of which a short and indivisible interval has beenassigned to thee; and of that which is fixed bydestiny, and how small a part of it thou art.

    Does another do me wrong? Let him look toit. He has his own disposition, his own activity. I nowhave what the universal nature wills me to have; andI do what my nature now wills me to do.

    Let the part of thy soul which leads andgoverns be undisturbed by the movements in theflesh, whether of pleasure or of pain; and let it notunite with them, but let it circumscribe itself andlimit those affects to their parts. But when theseaffects rise up to the mind by virtue of that othersympathy that naturally exists in a body which is allone, then thou must not strive to resist the sensation,for it is natural: but let not the ruling part of itself addto the sensation the opinion that it is either good orbad.

    Live with the gods. And he does live with the godswho constantly shows to them, his own soul issatisfied with that which is assigned to him, and thatit does all that the daemon wishes, which Zeus hathgiven to every man for his guardian and guide, aportion of himself. And this is every man'sunderstanding and reason.

    Art thou angry with him whose armpitsstink? Art thou angry with him whose mouth smellsfoul? What good will this danger do thee? He hassuch a mouth, he has such arm-pits: it is necessarythat such an emanation must come from such things-but the man has reason, it will be said, and he is able,if he takes pain, to discover wherein he offends- Iwish thee well of thy discovery. Well then, and thouhast reason: by thy rational faculty stir up his rationalfaculty; show him his error, admonish him. For if helistens, thou wilt cure him, and there is no need ofanger. Neither tragic actor nor whore...

    As thou intendest to live when thou art goneout,...so it is in thy power to live here. But if men donot permit thee, then get away out of life, yet so as ifthou wert suffering no harm. The house is smoky,and I quit it. Why dost thou think that this is anytrouble? But so long as nothing of the kind drives meout, I remain, am free, and no man shall hinder mefrom doing what I choose; and I choose to do what isaccording to the nature of the rational and socialanimal.

    The intelligence of the universe is social.Accordingly it has made the inferior things for thesake of the superior, and it has fitted the superior toone another. Thou seest how it has subordinated,co-ordinated and assigned to everything its properportion, and has brought together into concord withone another the things which are the best.

    How hast thou behaved hitherto to the gods,thy parents, brethren, children, teachers, to those wholooked after thy infancy, to thy friends, kinsfolk, tothy slaves? Consider if thou hast hitherto behaved toall in such a way that this may be said of thee:

  • Marcus Aurelius - Meditations 25 of 67

    Never has wronged a man in deed or word.And call to recollection both how many things thouhast passed through, and how many things thou hastbeen able to endure: and that the history of thy life isnow complete and thy service is ended: and howmany beautiful things thou hast seen: and how manypleasures and pains thou hast despised; and howmany things called honourable thou hast spurned;and to how many ill-minded folks thou hast shown akind disposition.

    Why do unskilled and ignorant souls disturbhim who has skill and knowledge? What soul thenhas skill and knowledge? That which knowsbeginning and end, and knows the reason whichpervades all substance and through all time by fixedperiods (revolutions) administers the universe.

    Soon, very soon, thou wilt be ashes, or askeleton, and either a name or not even a name; butname is sound and echo. And the things which aremuch valued in life are empty and rotten and trifling,and like little dogs biting one another, and littlechildren quarrelling, laughing, and then straightwayweeping. But fidelity and modesty and justice andtruth are fled...

    Up to Olympus from the wide-spread earth.What then is there which still detains thee here? Ifthe objects of sense are easily changed an


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