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

Hast Forgotten This,  That Everything Which Happens,  Always Happened So

And Will Happen So,  And Now Happens So Everywhere; Forgotten This Too,

How Close Is The Kinship Between A Man And The Whole Human Race,  For It

Is A Community,  Not Of A Little Blood Or Seed,  But Of Intelligence. And

Thou Hast Forgotten This Too,  That Every Man's Intelligence Is A God And

Is An Efflux Of The Deity;[A] And Forgotten This,  That Nothing Is A

Man's Own,  But That His Child And His Body And His Very Soul Came From

The Deity; Forgotten This,  That Everything Is Opinion; And Lastly Thou

Hast Forgotten That Every Man Lives The Present Time Only,  And Loses

Only This.

    [A] See Epictetus,  Ii. 8,  9,  Etc.

27. Constantly Bring To Thy Recollection Those Who Have Complained

Greatly About Anything,  Those Who Have Been Most Conspicuous By The

Greatest Fame Or Misfortunes Or Enmities Or Fortunes Of Any Kind: Then

Think Where Are They All Now? Smoke And Ash And A Tale,  Or Not Even A

Tale. And Let There Be Present To Thy Mind Also Everything Of This Sort,

How Fabius Catellinus Lived In The Country,  And Lucius Lupus In His

Gardens,  And Stertinius At Briae,  And Tiberius At Capreae,  And Velius

Rufus [Or Rufus At Velia]; And In Fine Think Of The Eager Pursuit Of

Anything Conjoined With Pride;[A] And How Worthless Everything Is After

Which Men Violently Strain; And How Much More Philosophical It Is For A

Man In The Opportunities Presented To Him To Show Himself Just,

Temperate,  Obedient To The Gods,  And To Do This With All Simplicity: For

The Pride Which Is Proud Of Its Want Of Pride Is The Most Intolerable Of

All.

    [A] [Greek: Met' Oiêseôs. Oiêsis Kai Typhos],  Epict. I. 8,  6.

28. To Those Who Ask,  Where Hast Thou Seen The Gods,  Or How Dost Thou

Comprehend That They Exist And So Worshippest Them,  I Answer,  In The

First Place,  They May Be Seen Even With The Eyes;[A] In The Second

Place,  Neither Have I Seen Even My Own Soul,  And Yet I Honor It. Thus

Then With Respect To The Gods,  From What I Constantly Experience Of

Their Power,  From This I Comprehend That They Exist,  And I Venerate

Them.

    [A] "Seen Even With The Eyes." It Is Supposed That This May Be

    Explained By The Stoic Doctrine,  That The Universe Is A God Or

    Living Being (Iv. 40),  And That The Celestial Bodies Are Gods

    (Viii. 19). But The Emperor May Mean That We Know That The Gods

    Exist,  As He Afterwards States It,  Because We See What They Do;

    As We Know That Man Has Intellectual Powers,  Because We See

    What He Does,  And In No Other Way Do We Know It. This Passage

    Then Will Agree With The Passage In The Epistle To The Romans

    (I. _V_. 20),  And With The Epistle To The Colossians (I. _V_.

    15),  In Which Jesus Christ Is Named "The Image Of The Invisible

    God;" And With The Passage In The Gospel Of St. John (Xiv. _V_.

    9).

    Gataker,  Whose Notes Are A Wonderful Collection Of Learning,

    And All Of It Sound And Good,  Quotes A Passage Of Calvin Which

    Is Founded On St. Paul's Language (Rom. I. _V_. 20): "God By

    Creating The Universe [Or World,  Mundum],  Being Himself

    Invisible,  Has Presented Himself To Our Eyes Conspicuously In A

    Certain Visible Form." He Also Quotes Seneca (De Benef. Iv. C.

    8): "Quocunque Te Flexeris,  Ibi Illum Videbis Occurrentem Tibi:

    Nihil Ab Illo Vacat,  Opus Suum Ipse Implet." Compare Also

    Cicero,  De Senectute (C. 22),  Xenophon's Cyropaedia (Viii. 7),

    And Mem. Iv. 3; Also Epictetus,  I. 6,  De Providentia. I Think

    That My Interpretation Of Antoninus Is Right.

29. The Safety Of Life Is This,  To Examine Everything All Through,  What

It Is Itself,  That Is Its Material,  What The Formal Part; With All Thy

Soul To Do Justice And To Say The Truth. What Remains,  Except To Enjoy

Life By Joining One Good Thing To Another So As Not To Leave Even The

Smallest Intervals Between?

30. There Is One Light Of The Sun,  Though It Is Interrupted By Walls,

Mountains,  And Other Things Infinite. There Is One Common Substance,[A]

Though It Is Distributed Among Countless Bodies Which Have Their Several

Qualities. There Is One Soul,  Though It Is Distributed Among Infinite

Natures And Individual Circumscriptions [Or Individuals]. There Is One

Intelligent Soul,  Though It Seems To Be Divided. Now In The Things Which

Have Been Mentioned,  All The Other Parts,  Such As Those Which Are Air

And Matter,  Are Without Sensation And Have No Fellowship: And Yet Even

These Parts The Intelligent Principle Holds Together And The Gravitation

Towards The Same. But Intellect In A Peculiar Manner Tends To That Which

Is Of The Same Kin,  And Combines With It,  And The Feeling For Communion

Is Not Interrupted.

    [A] Iv. 40.

31. What Dost Thou Wish--To Continue To Exist? Well,  Dost Thou Wish To

Have Sensation,  Movement,  Growth,  And Then Again To Cease To Grow,  To

Use Thy Speech,  To Think? What Is There Of All These Things Which Seems

To Thee Worth Desiring? But If It Is Easy To Set Little Value On All

These Things,  Turn To That Which Remains,  Which Is To Follow Reason And

God. But It Is Inconsistent With Honoring Reason And God To Be Troubled

Because By Death A Man Will Be Deprived Of The Other Things.

32. How Small A Part Of The Boundless And Unfathomable Time Is Assigned

To Every Man,  For It Is Very Soon Swallowed Up In The Eternal! And How

Small A Part Of The Whole Substance; And How Small A Part Of The

Universal Soul; And On What A Small Clod Of The Whole Earth Thou

Creepest! Reflecting On All This,  Consider Nothing To Be Great,  Except

To Act As Thy Nature Leads Thee,  And To Endure That Which The Common

Nature Brings.

33. How Does The Ruling Faculty Make Use Of Itself? For All Lies In

This. But Everything Else,  Whether It Is In The Power Of Thy Will Or

Not,  Is Only Lifeless Ashes And Smoke.

34. This Reflection Is Most Adapted To Move Us To Contempt Of Death,

That Even Those Who Think Pleasure To Be A Good And Pain An Evil Still

Have Despised It.

35. The Man To Whom That Only Is Good Which Comes In Due Season,  And To

Whom It Is The Same Thing Whether He Has Done More Or Fewer Acts

Conformable To Right Reason,  And To Whom It Makes No Difference Whether

He Contemplates The World For A Longer Or A Shorter Time--For This Man

Neither Is Death A Terrible Thing (Iii. 7; Vi. 23; X. 20; Xii. 23).

36. Man,  Thou Hast Been A Citizen In This Great State [The World];[A]

What Difference Does It Make To Thee Whether For Five Years [Or Three]?

For That Which Is Conformable To The Laws Is Just For All. Where Is The

Hardship Then,  If No Tyrant Nor Yet An Unjust Judge Sends Thee Away

From The State,  But Nature,  Who Brought Thee Into It? The Same As If A

Praetor Who Has Employed An Actor Dismisses Him From The Stage.[B]--"But

I Have Not Finished The Five Acts,  But Only Three Of Them."--Thou Sayest

Well,  But In Life The Three Acts Are The Whole Drama; For What Shall Be

A Complete Drama Is Determined By Him Who Was Once The Cause Of Its

Composition,  And Now Of Its Dissolution: But Thou Art The Cause Of

Neither. Depart Then Satisfied,  For He Also Who Releases Thee Is

Satisfied.

    [A] Ii. 16; Iii. 11; Iv. 29.

    [B] Iii. 8; Xi. 1.

[Greek: Adiaphora] (Indifferentia,  Cicero,  Seneca,  Epp. 82); Things

  Indifferent,  Neither Good Nor Bad; The Same As [Greek: Mesa

[Greek: Aischros] (Turpis,  Cic.),  Ugly; Morally Ugly.

[Greek: Aitia],  Cause.

[Greek: Aitiôdes],  [Greek: Aition],  [Greek: To],  The Formal Or Formative

  Principle,  The Cause.

[Greek: Akoinônêtos],  Unsocial.

[Greek: Anaphora],  Reference,  Relation To A Purpose.

[Greek: Anypexairetôs],  Unconditionally.

[Greek: Aporroia],  Efflux.

[Greek: Aproaireta],  [Greek: Ta],  The Things Which Are Not In Our Will

  Or Power.

[Greek: Archê],  A First Principle.

[Greek: Atomoi] (Corpora Individua,  Cic.),  Atoms.

[Greek: Autarkeia] Est Quae Parvo Contenta Omne Id Respuit Quod Abundat

  (Cic.); Contentment.

[Greek: Autarkes],  Sufficient In Itself; Contented.

[Greek: Aphormai],  Means,  Principles. The Word Has Also Other

  Significations In Epictetus. Index Ed. Schweig.

[Greek: Gignomena],  [Greek: Ta],  Things Which Are Produced,  Come Into

  Existence.

[Greek: Daimôn],  God,  God In Man,  Man's Intelligent Principle.

[Greek: Diathesis],  Disposition,  Affection Of The Mind.

[Greek: Diairesis],  Division Of Things Into Their Parts,  Dissection,

  Resolution,  Analysis.

[Greek: Dialektikê],  Ars Bene Disserendi Et Vera Ac Falsa Dijudicandi

  (Cic.).

[Greek: Dialysis],  Dissolution,  The Opposite Of [Greek: Sygkrisis].

[Greek: Dianoia],  Understanding; Sometimes,  The Mind Generally,

  The Whole Intellectual Power.

[Greek: Dogmata] (Decreta,  Cic.),  Principles.

[Greek: Dynamis Noera],  Intellectual Faculty.

[Greek: Enkrateia],  Temperance,  Self-Restraint.

[Greek: Eidos] In Divisione Formae Sunt,  Quas Graeci [Greek: Eidê]

  Vocant; Nostri,  Si Qui Haec Forte Tractant,  Species Appellant (Cic.).