Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (good books to read .txt) 📕

thyself. For the fault is manifestly thy own, whether thou didst trust

that a man who had such a disposition would keep his promise, or when

conferring thy kindness thou didst not confer it absolutely, nor yet in

such way as to have received from thy very act all the profit. For what

more dost thou want when thou hast done a man a service? art thou not

content that thou hast done something comformable to thy nature, and dost

thou seek to be paid for it? just as if the eye demanded a recompense for

seeing, or the feet for walking. For as these members are formed for a

particular purpose, and by working according to their several

constitutions obtain what is their own; so also as man is formed by

nature to acts of benevolence, when he has done anything benevolent or in

any other way conducive to the common interest, he has acted conformably

to his constitution, and he gets what is his own.

BOOK X.

1. Wilt thou, then, my soul, never be good and simple and one and naked,

more manifest than the body which surrounds thee? Wilt thou never enjoy

an affectionate and contented disposition? Wilt thou never be full and

without a want of any kind, longing for nothing more, nor desiring

anything, either animate or inanimate, for the enjoyment of pleasures?

nor yet desiring time wherein thou shalt have longer enjoyment, or place,

or pleasant climate, or society of men with whom thou mayest live in

harmony? but wilt thou be satisfied with thy present condition, and

pleased with all that is about thee, and wilt thou convince thyself that

thou hast everything, and that it comes from the gods, that everything is

well for thee, and will be well whatever shall please them, and whatever

they shall give for the conservation of the perfect living being, the

good and just and beautiful, which generates and holds together all

things, and contains and embraces all things which are dissolved for the

production of other like things? Wilt thou never be such that thou shalt

so dwell in community with gods and men as neither to find fault with

them at all, nor to be condemned by them?

2. Observe what thy nature requires, so far as thou art governed by

nature only: then do it and accept it, if thy nature, so far as thou art

a living being, shall not be made worse by it. And next thou must observe

what thy nature requires so far as thou art a living being. And all this

thou mayest allow thyself, if thy nature, so far as thou art a rational

animal, shall not be made worse by it. But the rational animal is

consequently also a political [social] animal. Use these rules, then, and

trouble thyself about nothing else.

3. Everything which happens either happens in such wise as thou art

formed by nature to bear it, or as thou art not formed by nature to bear

it. If, then, it happens to thee in such way as thou art formed by nature

to bear it, do not complain, but bear it as thou art formed by nature to

bear it. But if it happens in such wise as thou art not formed by nature

to bear it, do not complain, for it will perish after it has consumed

thee. Remember, however, that thou art formed by nature to bear

everything, with respect to which it depends on thy own opinion to make

it endurable and tolerable, by thinking that it is either thy interest or

thy duty to do this.

4. If a man is mistaken, instruct him kindly and show him his error. But

if thou art not able, blame thyself, or blame not even thyself.

5. Whatever may happen to thee, it was prepared for thee from all

eternity; and the implication of causes was from eternity spinning the

thread of thy being, and of that which is incident to it (III. II; IV.

26).

6. Whether the universe is [a concourse of] atoms, or nature [is a

system], let this first be established, that I am a part of the whole

which is governed by nature; next, I am in a manner intimately related to

the parts which are of the same kind with myself. For remembering this,

inasmuch as I am a part, I shall be discontented with none of the things

which are assigned to me out of the whole; for nothing is injurious to

the part if it is for the advantage of the whole. For the whole contains

nothing which is not for its advantage; and all natures indeed have this

common principle, but the nature of the universe has this principle

besides, that it cannot be compelled even by any external cause to

generate anything harmful to itself. By remembering, then, that I am a

part of such a whole, I shall be content with everything that happens.

And inasmuch as I am in a manner intimately related to the parts which

are of the same kind with myself, I shall do nothing unsocial, but I

shall rather direct myself to the things which are of the same kind with

myself, and I shall turn all my efforts to the common interest, and

divert them from the contrary. Now, if these things are done so, life

must flow on happily, just as thou mayest observe that the life of a

citizen is happy, who continues a course of action which is advantageous

to his fellow citizens, and is content with whatever the state may assign

to him.

7. The parts of the whole, everything, I mean, which is naturally

comprehended in the universe, must of necessity perish; but let this be

understood in this sense, that they must undergo change. But if this is

naturally both an evil and a necessity for the parts, the whole would not

continue to exist in a good condition, the parts being subject to change

and constituted so as to perish in various ways, For whether did Nature

herself design to do evil to the things which are parts of herself, and

to make them subject to evil and of necessity fall into evil, or have

such results happened without her knowing it? Both these suppositions,

indeed, are incredible. But if a man should even drop the term Nature [as

an efficient power], and should speak of these things as natural, even

then it would be ridiculous to affirm at the same time that the parts of

the whole are in their nature subject to change, and at the same time to

be surprised or vexed as if something were happening contrary to nature,

particularly as the dissolution of things is into those things of which

each thing is composed. For there is either a dispersion of the elements

out of which everything has been compounded, or a change from the solid

to the earthy and from the airy to the aerial, so that these parts are

taken back into the universal reason, whether this at certain periods is

consumed by fire or renewed by eternal changes. And do not imagine that

the solid and the airy part belongs to thee from the time of generation.

For all this received its accretion only yesterday and the day before, as

one may say, from the food and the air which is inspired. This, then,

which has received [the accretion], changes, not that which thy mother

brought forth. Hut suppose that this [which thy mother brought forth]

implicates thee very much with that other part, which has the peculiar

quality [of change], this is nothing in fact in the way of objection to

what is said.

8. When thou hast assumed these names, good, modest, true, rational, a

man of equanimity, and magnanimous, take care that thou dost not change

these names; and if thou shouldst lose them, quickly return to them. And

remember that the term Rational was intended to signify a discriminating

attention to every several thing, and freedom from negligence; and that

Equanimity is the voluntary acceptance of the things which are assigned

to thee by the common nature; and that Magnanimity is the elevation of

the intelligent part above the pleasurable or painful sensations of the

flesh, and above that poor thing called fame, and death, and all such

things. If, then, thou maintainest thyself in the possession of these

names, without desiring to be called by these names by others, thou wilt

be another person and wilt enter on another life. For to continue to be

such as thou hast hitherto been, and to be torn in pieces and defiled in

such a life, is the character of a very stupid man and one over-fond of

his life, and like those half-devoured fighters with wild beasts who,

though covered with wounds and gore, still entreat to be kept to the

following day, though they will be exposed in the same state to the same

claws and bites. Therefore fix thyself in the possession of these few

names: and if thou art able to abide in them, abide as if thou wast

removed to certain islands of the Happy. But if thou shalt perceive that

thou fallest out of them and dost not maintain thy hold, go courageously

into some nook where thou shalt maintain them, or even depart at once

from life, not in passion, but with simplicity and freedom and modesty,

after doing this one [laudable] thing at least in thy life, to have gone

out of it thus. In order, however, to the remembrance of these names, it

will greatly help thee if thou rememberest the gods, and that they wish

not to be flattered, but wish all reasonable beings to be made like

themselves; and if thou rememberest that what does the work of a fig-tree

is a fig-tree, and that what does the work of a dog is a dog, and that

what does the work of a bee is a bee, and that what does the work of a

man is a man.

9. Mimi, war, astonishment, torpor, slavery, will daily wipe out those

holy principles of thine. How many things without studying nature dost

thou imagine, and how many dost thou neglect? But it is thy duty so to

look on and so to do everything, that at the same time the power of

dealing with circumstances is perfected, and the contemplative faculty is

exercised, and the confidence which comes from the knowledge of each

several thing is maintained without showing it, but yet not concealed.

For when wilt thou enjoy simplicity, when gravity, and when the knowledge

of every several thing, both what it is in substance, and what place it

has in the universe, and how long it is formed to exist, and of what

things it is compounded, and to whom it can belong, and who are able both

to give it and take it away?

10. A spider is proud when it has caught a fly, and another when he has

caught a poor hare, and another when he has taken a little fish in a net,

and another when he has taken wild boars, and another when he has taken

bears, and another when he has taken Sarmatians. Are not these robbers,

if thou examinest their opinions?

11. Acquire the contemplative way of seeing how all things change into

one another, and constantly attend to it, and exercise thyself about this

part [of philosophy]. For nothing is so much adapted to produce

magnanimity. Such a man has put off the body, and as he sees that he

must, no one knows how soon, go away from among men and leave everything

here, he gives himself up entirely to just doing in all his actions, and

in everything else