Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (best self help books to read .txt) 📕

Foresee Things A Long Way Off,  And To Provide For The Smallest Without

Display; And To Check Immediately Popular Applause And All Flattery; And

To Be Ever Watchful Over The Things Which Were Necessary For The

Administration Of The Empire,  And To Be A Good Manager Of The

Expenditure,  And Patiently To Endure The Blame Which He Got For Such

Conduct; And He Was Neither Superstitious With Respect To The Gods,  Nor

Did He Court Men By Gifts Or By Trying To Please Them,  Or By Flattering

The Populace; But He Showed Sobriety In All Things,  And Firmness,  And

Never Any Mean Thoughts Or Action,  Nor Love Of Novelty. And The Things

Which Conduce In Any Way To The Commodity Of Life,  And Of Which Fortune

Gives An Abundant Supply,  He Used Without Arrogance And Without Excusing

Himself; So That When He Had Them,  He Enjoyed Them Without Affectation,

And When He Had Them Not,  He Did Not Want Them. No One Could Ever Say Of

Him That He Was Either A Sophist Or A [Home-Bred] Flippant Slave Or A

Pedant; But Every One Acknowledged Him To Be A Man Ripe,  Perfect,  Above

Flattery,  Able To Manage His Own And Other Men's Affairs. Besides This,

He Honored Those Who Were True Philosophers,  And He Did Not Reproach

Those Who Pretended To Be Philosophers,  Nor Yet Was He Easily Led By

Them. He Was Also Easy In Conversation,  And He Made Himself Agreeable

Without Any Offensive Affectation. He Took A Reasonable Care Of His

Body's Health,  Not As One Who Was Greatly Attached To Life,  Nor Out Of

Regard To Personal Appearance,  Nor Yet In A Careless Way,  But So That

Through His Own Attention He Very Seldom Stood In Need Of The

Physician's Art Or Of Medicine Or External Applications. He Was Most

Ready To Give Without Envy To Those Who Possessed Any Particular

Faculty,  Such As That Of Eloquence Or Knowledge Of The Law Or Of Morals,

Or Of Anything Else; And He Gave Them His Help,  That Each Might Enjoy

Reputation According To His Deserts; And He Always Acted Conformably To

The Institutions Of His Country,  Without Showing Any Affectation Of

Doing So. Further,  He Was Not Fond Of Change Nor Unsteady,  But He Loved

To Stay In The Same Places,  And To Employ Himself About The Same Things;

And After His Paroxysms Of Headache He Came Immediately Fresh And

Vigorous To His Usual Occupations. His Secrets Were Not Many,  But Very

Few And Very Rare,  And These Only About Public Matters; And He Showed

Prudence And Economy In The Exhibition Of The Public Spectacles And The

Construction Of Public Buildings,  His Donations To The People,  And In

Such Things,  For He Was A Man Who Looked To What Ought To Be Done,  Not

To The Reputation Which Is Got By A Man's Acts. He Did Not Take The Bath

At Unseasonable Hours; He Was Not Fond Of Building Houses,  Nor Curious

About What He Ate,  Nor About The Texture And Color Of His Clothes,  Nor

About The Beauty Of His Slaves.[C] His Dress Came From Lorium,  His Villa

On The Coast,  And From Lanuvium Generally.[D] We Know How He Behaved To

The Toll-Collector At Tusculum Who Asked His Pardon; And Such Was All

His Behavior. There Was In Him Nothing Harsh,  Nor Implacable,  Nor

Violent,  Nor,  As One May Say,  Anything Carried To The Sweating Point;

But He Examined All Things Severally,  As If He Had Abundance Of Time,

And Without Confusion,  In An Orderly Way,  Vigorously And Consistently.

And That Might Be Applied To Him Which Is Recorded Of Socrates,[E] That

He Was Able Both To Abstain From,  And To Enjoy,  Those Things Which Many

Are Too Weak To Abstain From,  And Cannot Enjoy Without Excess. But To Be

Strong Enough Both To Bear The One And To Be Sober In The Other Is The

Mark Of A Man Who Has A Perfect And Invincible Soul,  Such As He Showed

In The Illness Of Maximus.

    [A] He Means His Adoptive Father,  His Predecessor,  The Emperor

    Antoninus Pius. Compare Vi. 30.

    [B] He Uses The Word [Greek: Koinonoêmosunê]. See Gataker's

    Note.

    [C] This Passage Is Corrupt,  And The Exact Meaning Is

    Uncertain.

    [D] Lorium Was A Villa On The Coast North Of Rome,  And There

    Antoninus Was Brought Up,  And He Died There. This Also Is

    Corrupt.

    [E] Xenophon,  Memorab. I. 3,  15.

17. To The Gods I Am Indebted For Having Good Grandfathers,  Good

Parents,  A Good Sister,  Good Teachers,  Good Associates,  Good Kinsmen And

Friends,  Nearly Everything Good. Further,  I Owe It To The Gods That I

Was Not Hurried Into Any Offence Against Any Of Them,  Though I Had A

Disposition Which,  If Opportunity Had Offered,  Might Have Led Me To Do

Something Of This Kind; But,  Through Their Favor,  There Never Was Such A

Concurrence Of Circumstances As Put Me To The Trial. Further,  I Am

Thankful To The Gods That I Was Not Longer Brought Up With My

Grandfather's Concubine,  And That I Preserved The Flower Of My Youth,

And That I Did Not Make Proof Of My Virility Before The Proper Season,

But Even Deferred The Time; That I Was Subjected To A Ruler And Father

Who Was Able To Take Away All Pride From Me,  And To Bring Me To The

Knowledge That It Is Possible For A Man To Live In A Palace Without

Wanting Either Guards Or Embroidered Dresses,  Or Torches And Statues,

And Such-Like Show; But That It Is In Such A Man's Power To Bring

Himself Very Near To The Fashion Of A Private Person,  Without Being For

This Reason Either Meaner In Thought,  Or More Remiss In Action,  With

Respect To The Things Which Must Be Done For The Public Interest In A

Manner That Befits A Ruler. I Thank The Gods For Giving Me Such A

Brother,[A] Who Was Able By His Moral Character To Rouse Me To Vigilance

Over Myself,  And Who At The Same Time Pleased Me By His Respect And

Affection; That My Children Have Not Been Stupid Nor Deformed In Body;

That I Did Not Make More Proficiency In Rhetoric,  Poetry,  And The Other

Studies,  In Which I Should Perhaps Have Been Completely Engaged,  If I

Had Seen That I Was Making Progress In Them; That I Made Haste To Place

Those Who Brought Me Up In The Station Of Honor,  Which They Seemed To

Desire,  Without Putting Them Off With Hope Of My Doing It Some Other

Time After,  Because They Were Then Still Young; That I Knew Apollonius,

Rusticus,  Maximus; That I Received Clear And Frequent Impressions About

Living According To Nature,  And What Kind Of A Life That Is,  So That,  So

Far As Depended On The Gods,  And Their Gifts,  And Help,  And

Inspirations,  Nothing Hindered Me From Forthwith Living According To

Nature,  Though I Still Fall Short Of It Through My Own Fault,  And

Through Not Observing The Admonitions Of The Gods,  And,  I May Almost

Say,  Their Direct Instructions; That My Body Has Held Out So Long In

Such A Kind Of Life; That I Never Touched Either Benedicta Or Theodotus,

And That,  After Having Fallen Into Amatory Passions,  I Was Cured,  And,

Though I Was Often Out Of Humor With Rusticus,  I Never Did Anything Of

Which I Had Occasion To Repent; That,  Though It Was My Mother's Fate To

Die Young,  She Spent The Last Years Of Her Life With Me; That,  Whenever

I Wished To Help Any Man In His Need,  Or On Any Other Occasion,  I Was

Never Told That I Had Not The Means Of Doing It; And That To Myself The

Same Necessity Never Happened,  To Receive Anything From Another; That I

Have Such A Wife,[B] So Obedient,  And So Affectionate,  And So Simple;

That I Had Abundance Of Good Masters For My Children; And That Remedies

Have Been Shown To Me By Dreams,  Both Others,  And Against Bloodspitting

And Giddiness[C]...; And That,  When I Had An Inclination To Philosophy,

I Did Not Fall Into The Hands Of Any Sophist,  And That I Did Not Waste

My Time On Writers [Of Histories],  Or In The Resolution Of Syllogisms,

Or Occupy Myself About The Investigation Of Appearances In The Heavens;

For All These Things Require The Help Of The Gods And Fortune.

Among The Quadi At The Granua.[D]

    [A] The Emperor Had No Brother Except L. Verus,  His Brother By

    Adoption.

    [B] See The _Life Of Antoninus_.

    [C] This Is Corrupt.

    [D] The Quadi Lived In The Southern Part Of Bohemia And

    Moravia; And Antoninus Made A Campaign Against Them. (See The

    _Life_.) Granua Is Probably The River Graan,  Which Flows Into

    The Danube.

    If These Words Are Genuine,  Antoninus May Have Written This

    First Book During The War With The Quadi. In The First Edition

    Of Antoninus,  And In The Older Editions,  The First Three

    Sections Of The Second Book Make The Conclusion Of The First

    Book. Gataker Placed Them At The Beginning Of The Second Book.

Ii.

Begin The Morning By Saying To Thyself,  I Shall Meet With The Busybody,

The Ungrateful,  Arrogant,  Deceitful,  Envious,  Unsocial. All These Things

Happen To Them By Reason Of Their Ignorance Of What Is Good And Evil.

But I Who Have Seen The Nature Of The Good That It Is Beautiful,  And Of

The Bad That It Is Ugly,  And The Nature Of Him Who Does Wrong,  That It

Is Akin To Me; Not [Only] Of The Same Blood Or Seed,  But That It

Participates In [The Same] Intelligence And [The Same] Portion Of The

Divinity,  I Can Neither Be Injured By Any Of Them,  For No One Can Fix On

Me What Is Ugly,  Nor Can I Be Angry With My Kinsman,  Nor Hate Him. For

We Are Made For Co-Operation,  Like Feet,  Like Hands,  Like Eyelids,  Like

The Rows Of The Upper And Lower Teeth.[A] To Act Against One Another,

Then,  Is Contrary To Nature; And It Is Acting Against One Another To Be

Vexed And To Turn Away.

    [A] Xenophon,  Mem. Ii. 3. 18.

2. Whatever This Is That I Am,  It Is A Little Flesh And Breath,  And The

Ruling Part. Throw Away Thy