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.