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

The Cold With More Endurance,  And That When He Was Bid To Arrest Leon[C]

Of Salamis,  He Considered It More Noble To Refuse,  And That He Walked In

A Swaggering Way In The Streets[D]--Though As To This Fact One May Have

Great Doubts If It Was True. But We Ought To Inquire What Kind Of A Soul

It Was That Socrates Possessed,  And If He Was Able To Be Content With

Being Just Towards Men And Pious Towards The Gods,  Neither Idly Vexed On

Account Of Men's Villainy,  Nor Yet Making Himself A Slave To Any Man's

Ignorance,  Nor Receiving As Strange Anything That Fell To His Share Out

Of The Universal,  Nor Enduring It As Intolerable,  Nor Allowing His

Understanding To Sympathize With The Affects Of The Miserable Flesh.

    [A] The Text Has [Greek: Hylikê],  Which It Has Been Proposed To

    Alter To [Greek: Logikê],  And This Change Is Necessary. We

    Shall Then Have In This Section [Greek: Logikê] And [Greek:

    Koinônikê] Associated,  As We Have In S. 68 [Greek: Logikê] And

    [Greek: Politikê],  And In S. 72.

    [B] I Have Followed Gataker's Conjecture [Greek: Ohi

    Apanthrôpoi] Instead Of The Mss. Reading [Greek: Ohi Anthrôpoi]

    [C] Leon Of Salamis. See Plato,  Epist. 7; Apolog. C. 20;

    Epictetus,  Iv. I,  160; Iv. 7,  30.

    [D] Aristophan. Nub. 362. [Greek: Hoti Brenthuei T' En Taisis

    Hodois Kai Tô Ophthalmô Paraballei.]

67. Nature Has Not So Mingled+ [The Intelligence] With The Composition

Of The Body,  As Not To Have Allowed Thee The Power Of Circumscribing

Thyself And Of Bringing Under Subjection To Thyself All That Is Thy Own;

For It Is Very Possible To Be A Divine Man And To Be Recognized As Such

By No One. Always Bear This In Mind; And Another Thing Too,  That Very

Little Indeed Is Necessary For Living A Happy Life. And Because Thou

Hast Despaired Of Becoming A Dialectician And Skilled In The Knowledge

Of Nature,  Do Not For This Reason Renounce The Hope Of Being Both Free

And Modest,  And Social And Obedient To God.

68. It Is In Thy Power To Live Free From All Compulsion In The Greatest

Tranquillity Of Mind,  Even If All The World Cry Out Against Thee As

Much As They Choose,  And Even If Wild Beasts Tear In Pieces The Members

Of This Kneaded Matter Which Has Grown Around Thee. For What Hinders The

Mind In The Midst Of All This From Maintaining Itself In Tranquillity

And In A Just Judgment Of All Surrounding Things And In A Ready Use Of

The Objects Which Are Presented To It,  So That The Judgment May Say To

The Thing Which Falls Under Its Observation: This Thou Art In Substance

[Reality],  Though In Men's Opinion Thou Mayest Appear To Be Of A

Different Kind; And The Use Shall Say To That Which Falls Under The

Hand: Thou Art The Thing That I Was Seeking; For To Me That Which

Presents Itself Is Always A Material For Virtue Both Rational And

Political,  And In A Word,  For The Exercise Of Art,  Which Belongs To Man

Or God. For Everything Which Happens Has A Relationship Either To God Or

Man,  And Is Neither New Nor Difficult To Handle,  But Usual And Apt

Matter To Work On.

69. The Perfection Of Moral Character Consists In This,  In Passing Every

Day As The Last,  And In Being Neither Violently Excited Nor Torpid Nor

Playing The Hypocrite.

70. The Gods Who Are Immortal Are Not Vexed Because During So Long A

Time They Must Tolerate Continually Men Such As They Are And So Many Of

Them Bad; And Besides This,  They Also Take Care Of Them In All Ways.

But Thou,  Who Art Destined To End So Soon,  Art Thou Wearied Of Enduring

The Bad,  And This Too When Thou Art One Of Them?

71. It Is A Ridiculous Thing For A Man Not To Fly From His Own Badness,

Which Is Indeed Possible,  But To Fly From Other Men's Badness,  Which Is

Impossible.

72. Whatever The Rational And Political [Social] Faculty Finds To Be

Neither Intelligent Nor Social,  It Properly Judges To Be Inferior To

Itself.

73. When Thou Hast Done A Good Act And Another Has Received It,  Why Dost

Thou Still Look For A Third Thing Besides These,  As Fools Do,  Either To

Have The Reputation Of Having Done A Good Act Or To Obtain A Return?

74. No Man Is Tired Of Receiving What Is Useful. But It Is Useful To Act

According To Nature. Do Not Then Be Tired Of Receiving What Is Useful By

Doing It To Others.

75. The Nature Of The All Moved To Make The Universe. But Now Either

Everything That Takes Place Comes By Way Of Consequence Or [Continuity];

Or Even The Chief Things Towards Which The Ruling Power Of The Universe

Directs Its Own Movement Are Governed By No Rational Principle. If This

Is Remembered,  It Will Make Thee More Tranquil In Many Things (Vi. 44;

Ix. 28).[A]

    [A] It Is Not Easy To Understand This Section. It Has Been

    Suggested That There Is Some Error In [Greek: Ê Alogista] &C.

    Some Of The Translators Have Made Nothing Of The Passage,  And

    They Have Somewhat Perverted The Words. The First Proposition

    Is,  That The Universe Was Made By Some Sufficient Power. A

    Beginning Of The Universe Is Assumed,  And A Power Which Framed

    An Order. The Next Question Is,  How Are Things Produced Now?

    Or,  In Other Words,  By What Power Do Forms Appear In Continuous

    Succession? The Answer,  According To Antoninus,  May Be This: It

    Is By Virtue Of The Original Constitution Of Things That All

    Change And Succession Have Been Effected And Are Effected. And

    This Is Intelligible In A Sense,  If We Admit That The Universe

    Is Always One And The Same,  A Continuity Of Identity; As Much

    One And The Same As Man Is One And The Same--Which He Believes

    Himself To Be,  Though He Also Believes,  And Cannot Help

    Believing,  That Both In His Body And In His Thoughts There Is

    Change And Succession. There Is No Real Discontinuity Then In

    The Universe; And If We Say That There Was An Order Framed In

    The Beginning,  And That The Things Which Are Now Produced Are A

    Consequence Of A Previous Arrangement,  We Speak Of Things As We

    Are Compelled To View Them,  As Forming A Series Of Succession,

    Just As We Speak Of The Changes In Our Own Bodies And The

    Sequence Of Our Own Thoughts. But As There Are No Intervals,

    Not Even Intervals Infinitely Small,  Between Any Two Supposed

    States Of Any One Thing,  So There Are No Intervals,  Not Even

    Infinitely Small,  Between What We Call One Thing And Any Other

    Thing Which We Speak Of As Immediately Preceding Or Following

    It. What We Call Time Is An Idea Derived From Our Notion Of A

    Succession Of Things Or Events,  An Idea Which Is A Part Of Our

    Constitution,  But Not An Idea Which We Can Suppose To Belong To

    An Infinite Intelligence And Power. The Conclusion Then Is

    Certain That The Present And The Past,  The Production Of

    Present Things And The Supposed Original Order,  Out Of Which We

    Say That Present Things Now Come,  Are One,  And The Present

    Productive Power And The So-Called Past Arrangement Are Only

    Different Names For One Thing. I Suppose Then That Antoninus

    Wrote Here As People Sometimes Talk Now,  And That His Real

    Meaning Is Not Exactly Expressed By His Words. There Are

    Certainly Other Passages From Which I Think That We May Collect

    That He Had Notions Of Production Something Like What I Have

    Expressed. We Now Come To The Alternate: "Or Even The Chief

    Things ... Principle." I Do Not Exactly Know What He Means By

    [Greek: Ta Kureôtata] "The Chief," Or "The Most Excellent," Or

    Whatever It Is. But As He Speaks Elsewhere Of Inferior And

    Superior Things,  And Of The Inferior Being For The Use Of The

    Superior,  And Of Rational Beings Being The Highest,  He May Here

    Mean Rational Beings. He Also In This Alternative Assumes A

    Governing Power Of The Universe,  And That It Acts By Directing

    Its Power Towards These Chief Objects,  Or Making Its Special,

    Proper Motion Towards Them. And Here He Uses The Noun ([Greek:

    Hormê]) "Movement," Which Contains The Same Notion As The Verb

    ([Greek: Ôrmêse]) "Moved," Which He Used At The Beginning Of

    The Paragraph,  When He Was Speaking Of The Making Of The

    Universe. If We Do Not Accept The First Hypothesis,  He Says,  We

    Must Take The Conclusion Of The Second,  That The "Chief Things

    Towards Which The Ruling Power Of The Universe Directs Its Own

    Movement Are Governed By No Rational Principle." The Meaning

    Then Is,  If There Is A Meaning In It,  That Though There Is A

    Governing Power Which Strives To Give Effect To Its Efforts,  We

    Must Conclude That There Is No Rational Direction Of Anything,

    If The Power Which First Made The Universe Does Not In Some Way

    Govern It Still. Besides,  If We Assume That Anything Is Now

    Produced Or Now Exists Without The Action Of The Supreme

    Intelligence,  And Yet That This Intelligence Makes An Effort To

    Act,  We Obtain A Conclusion Which Cannot Be Reconciled With The

    Nature Of A Supreme Power,  Whose Existence Antoninus Always

    Assumes. The Tranquillity That A Man May Gain From These

    Reflections Must Result From His Rejecting The Second

    Hypothesis And Accepting The First--Whatever May Be The Exact

    Sense In Which The Emperor Understood The First. Or,  As He Says

    Elsewhere,  If There Is No Providence Which Governs The World,

    Man Has At Least The Power Of Governing Himself According To

    The Constitution Of His Nature; And So He May Be Tranquil If He

    Does The Best That He Can.

    If There Is No Error In The Passage,  It