These are the properties of the rational soul: it sees itself, analyzes
itself, and makes itself such as it chooses; the fruit which it bears
itself enjoys--for the fruits of plants and that in animals which
corresponds to fruits others enjoy--it obtains its own end, wherever the
limit of life may be fixed. Not as in a dance and in a play and in such
like things, where the whole action is incomplete if anything cuts it
short; but in every part, and wherever it may be stopped, it makes what
has been set before it full and complete, so that it can say, I have
what is my own. And further it traverses the whole universe, and the
surrounding vacuum, and surveys its form, and it extends itself into the
infinity of time, and embraces and comprehends the[A] periodical
renovation of all things, and it comprehends that those who come after
us will see nothing new, nor have those before us seen anything more,
but in a manner he who is forty years old, if he has any understanding
at all, has seen by virtue of the uniformity that prevails all things
which have been and all that will be. This too is a property of the
rational soul, love of one's neighbor, and truth and modesty, and to
value nothing more than itself, which is also the property of Law.[B]
Thus the right reason differs not at all from the reason of justice.
[A] [Greek: Tên periodikên palingenesian]. See v. 13, 32; x.
7.
[B] Law is the order by which all things are governed.
2. Thou wilt set little value on pleasing song and dancing and the
pancratium, if thou wilt distribute the melody of the voice into its
several sounds, and ask thyself as to each, if thou art mastered by
this; for thou wilt be prevented by shame from confessing it: and in the
matter of dancing, if at each movement and attitude thou wilt do the
same; and the like also in the matter of the pancratium. In all things,
then, except virtue and the acts of virtue, remember to apply thyself to
their several parts, and by this division to come to value them little:
and apply this rule also to thy whole life.
3. What a soul that is which is ready, if at any moment it must be
separated from the body, and ready either to be extinguished or
dispersed or continue to exist; but so that this readiness comes from a
man's own judgment, not from mere obstinacy, as with the Christians,[A]
but considerately and with dignity and in a way to persuade another,
without tragic show.
[A] See the Life of Antoninus. This is the only passage in
which the emperor speaks of the Christians. Epictetus (iv. 7,
6) names them Galilaei.
4. Have I done something for the general interest? Well then, I have
had my reward. Let this always be present to thy mind, and never stop
[doing such good].
5. What is thy art? To be good. And how is this accomplished well except
by general principles, some about the nature of the universe, and others
about the proper constitution of man?
6. At first tragedies were brought on the stage as means of reminding
men of the things which happen to them, and that it is according to
nature for things to happen so, and that, if you are delighted with what
is shown on the stage, you should not be troubled with that which takes
place on the larger stage. For you see that these things must be
accomplished thus, and that even they bear them who cry out,[A] "O
Cithaeron." And, indeed, some things are said well by the dramatic
writers, of which kind is the following especially:--
"Me and my children if the gods neglect,
This has its reason too."[B]