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

11. If the things do not come to thee, the pursuits and avoidances of

which disturb thee, still in a manner thou goest to them. Let then thy

judgment about them be at rest, and they will remain quiet, and thou wilt

not be seen either pursuing or avoiding.

12. The spherical form of the soul maintains its figure when it is

neither extended towards any object, nor contracted inwards, nor

dispersed nor sinks down, but is illuminated by light, by which it sees

the truth,—the truth of all things and the truth that is in itself

(VIII. 41, 45; XII. 3).

13. Suppose any man shall despise me. Let him look to that himself. But I

will look to this, that I be not discovered doing or saying anything

deserving of contempt. Shall any man hate me? Let him look to it. But I

will be mild and benevolent towards every man, and ready to show even him

his mistake, not reproachfully, nor yet as making a display of my

endurance, but nobly and honestly, like the great Phocion, unless indeed

he only assumed it. For the interior [parts] ought to be such, and a man

ought to be seen by the gods neither dissatisfied with anything nor

complaining. For what evil is it to thee, if thou art now doing what is

agreeable to thy own nature, and art satisfied with that which at this

moment is suitable to the nature of the universe, since thou art a human

being placed at thy post in order that what is for the common advantage

may be done in some way?

14. Men despise one another and flatter one another; and men wish to

raise themselves above one another, and crouch before one another.

15. How unsound and insincere is he who says, I have determined to deal

with thee in a fair way!—What art thou doing, man? There is no occasion

to give this notice. It will soon show itself by acts. The voice ought to

be plainly written on the forehead. Such as a man’s character is, he

immediately shows it in his eyes, just as he who is beloved forthwith

reads everything in the eyes of lovers. The man who is honest and good

ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander

as soon as he comes near him must smell whether he choose or not. But the

affectation of simplicity is like a crooked stick. Nothing is more

disgraceful than a wolfish friendship [false friendship]. Avoid this most

of all. The good and simple and benevolent show all these things in the

eyes, and there is no mistaking.

16. As to living in the best way, this power is in the soul, if it be

indifferent to things which are indifferent. And it will be indifferent,

if it looks on each of these things separately and all together, and if

it remembers that not one of them produces in us an opinion about itself,

nor comes to us; but these things remain immovable, and it is we

ourselves who produce the judgments about them, and, as we may say, write

them in ourselves, it being in our power not to write them, and it being

in our power, if perchance these judgments have imperceptibly got

admission to our minds, to wipe them out; and if we remember also that

such attention will only be for a short time, and then life will be at an

end. Besides, what trouble is there at all in doing this? For if these

things are according to nature, rejoice in them and they will be easy to

thee: but if contrary to nature, seek what is conformable to thy own

nature, and strive towards this, even if it bring no reputation; for

every man is allowed to seek his own good.

17. Consider whence each thing is come, and of what it consists, and into

what it changes, and what kind of a thing it will be when it has changed,

and that it will sustain no harm.

18. [If any have offended against thee, consider first]: What is my

relation to men, and that we are made for one another; and in another

respect I was made to be set over them, as a ram over the flock or a bull

over the herd. But examine the matter from first principles, from this:

If all things are not mere atoms, it is nature which orders all things:

if this is so, the inferior things exist for the sake of the superior,

and these for the sake of one another (II. 1; IX. 39; V. 16; III. 4).

Second, consider what kind of men they are at table, in bed, and so

forth: and particularly, under what compulsions in respect of opinions

they are; and as to their acts, consider with what pride they do what

they do (VIII. 14; IX. 34).

Third, that if men do rightly what they do, we ought not to be

displeased: but if they do not right, it is plain that they do so

involuntarily and in ignorance. For as every soul is unwillingly deprived

of the truth, so also is it unwillingly deprived of the power of behaving

to each man according to his deserts. Accordingly men are pained when

they are called unjust, ungrateful, and greedy, and in a word wrongdoers

to their neighbors (VII. 62, 63; II. 1; VII. 26; VIII. 29).

Fourth, consider that thou also dost many things wrong, and that thou art

a man like others; and even if thou dost abstain from certain faults,

still thou hast the disposition to commit them, though either through

cowardice, or concern about reputation, or some such mean motive, thou

dost abstain from such faults (I. 17).

Fifth, consider that thou dost not even understand whether men are doing

wrong or not, for many things are done with a certain reference to

circumstances. And in short, a man must learn a great deal to enable him

to pass a correct judgment on another man’s acts (IX. 38; IV. 51).

Sixth, consider when thou art much vexed or grieved, that man’s life is

only a moment, and after a short time we are all laid out dead (VII. 58;

IV. 48).

Seventh, that it is not men’s acts which disturb us, for those acts have

their foundation in men’s ruling principles, but it is our own opinions

which disturb us. Take away these opinions then, and resolve to dismiss

thy judgment about an act as if it were something grievous, and thy anger

is gone. How then shall I take away these opinions? By reflecting that no

wrongful act of another brings shame on thee: for unless that which is

shameful is alone bad, thou also must of necessity do many things wrong,

and become a robber and everything else (V. 25; VII. 16).

Eighth, consider how much more pain is brought on us by the anger and

vexation caused by such acts than by the acts themselves, at which we are

angry and vexed (IV. 39, 49; VII. 24).

Ninth, consider that a good disposition is invincible if it be genuine,

and not an affected smile and acting a part. For what will the most

violent man do to thee, if thou continuest to be of a kind disposition

towards him, and if, as opportunity offers, thou gently admonishest him

and calmly correctest his errors at the very time when he is trying to do

thee harm, saying, Not so, my child: we are constituted by nature for

something else: I shall certainly not be injured, but thou art injuring

thyself, my child.—And show him with gentle tact and by general

principles that this is so, and that even bees do not do as he does, nor

any animals which are formed by nature to be gregarious. And thou must do

this neither with any double meaning nor in the way of reproach, but

affectionately and without any rancor in thy soul; and not as if thou

wert lecturing him, nor yet that any bystander may admire, but either

when he is alone, and if others are present…. [Footnote: 6]

Remember these nine rules, as if thou hadst received them as a gift from

the Muses, and begin at last to be a man while thou livest. But thou must

equally avoid flattering men and being vexed at them, for both are

unsocial and lead to harm. And let this truth be present to thee in the

excitement of anger, that to be moved by passion is not manly, but that

mildness and gentleness, as they are more agreeable to human nature, so

also are they more manly; and he who possesses these qualities

possesses strength, nerves, and courage, and not the man who is subject

to fits of passion and discontent. For in the same degree in which a

man’s mind is nearer to freedom from all passion, in the same degree also

is it nearer to strength: and as the sense of pain is a characteristic of

weakness, so also is anger. For he who yields to pain and he who yields

to anger, both are wounded and both submit.

But if thou wilt, receive also a tenth present from the leader of the

[Muses, Apollo], and it is this,—that to expect bad men not to do wrong

is madness, for he who expects this desires an impossibility. But to

allow men to behave so to others, and to expect them not to do thee any

wrong, is irrational and tyrannical.

19. There are four principal aberrations of the superior faculty against

which thou shouldst be constantly on thy guard, and when thou hast

detected them, thou shouldst wipe them out and say on each occasion thus:

This thought is not necessary: this tends to destroy social union: this

which thou art going to say comes not from the real thoughts; for thou

shouldst consider it among the most absurd of things for a man not to

speak from his real thoughts. But the fourth is when thou shalt reproach

thyself for anything, for this is an evidence of the diviner part within

thee being overpowered and yielding to the less honorable and to the

perishable part, the body, and to its gross pleasures (IV. 24; II. 16).

20. Thy aerial part and all the fiery parts which are mingled in thee,

though by nature they have an upward tendency, still in obedience to the

disposition of the universe they are overpowered here in the compound

mass [the body]. And also the whole of the earthy part in thee and the

watery, though their tendency is downward, still are raised up and occupy

a position which is not their natural one. In this manner then the

elemental parts obey the universal; for when they have been fixed in any

place, perforce they remain there until again the universal shall sound

the signal for dissolution. Is it not then strange that thy intelligent

part only should be disobedient and discontented with its own place? And

yet no force is imposed on it, but only those things which are

comformable to its nature: still it does not submit, but is carried in

the opposite direction. For the movement towards injustice and

intemperance and to anger and grief and fear is nothing else than the act

of one who deviates from nature. And also when the ruling faculty is

discontented with anything that happens, then too it deserts its post:

for it is constituted for piety and reverence towards the gods no less

than for justice. For these qualities also are comprehended under the

generic term of contentment with the constitution of things, and indeed

they are prior to acts of justice.