1. 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
is, 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]; 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.
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 [from other things], nothing worthy of
blame, nothing which seeks a hiding-place.
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 I attempt to ascertain the value
of each.
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, nor the acts of the ancient Romans and Hellenes, and the
selections from books which thou wast reserving for thy old age. 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.
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 sensations, 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 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.