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

Religion,  No Ethical Philosophy Is Worth Anything,  If The Teacher Has

Not Lived The "Life Of An Apostle," And Been Ready To Die "The Death Of

A Martyr." "Not In Passivity (The Passive Effects) But In Activity Lie

The Evil And The Good Of The Rational Social Animal,  Just As His Virtue

And His Vice Lie Not In Passivity,  But In Activity" (Ix. 16). The

Emperor Antoninus Was A Practical Moralist. From His Youth He Followed A

Laborious Discipline,  And Though His High Station Placed Him Above All

Want Or The Fear Of It,  He Lived As Frugally And Temperately As The

Poorest Philospher. Epictetus Wanted Little,  And It Seems That He Always

Had The Little That He Wanted And He Was Content With It,  As He Had Been

With His Servile Station! But Antoninus After His Accession To The

Empire Sat On An Uneasy Seat. He Had The Administration Of An Empire

Which Extended From The Euphrates To The Atlantic,  From The Cold

Mountains Of Scotland To The Hot Sands Of Africa; And We May Imagine,

Though We Cannot Know It By Experience,  What Must Be The Trials,  The

Troubles,  The Anxiety,  And The Sorrows Of Him Who Has The World's

Business On His Hands,  With The Wish To Do The Best That He Can,  And The

Certain Knowledge That He Can Do Very Little Of The Good Which He

Wishes.

    [A] De Marco Aurelio Antonino ... Ex Ipsius Commentariis.

    Scriptio Philologica. Instituit Nicolaus Bachius,  Lipsiae,

    1826.

In The Midst Of War,  Pestilence,  Conspiracy,  General Corruption,  And

With The Weight Of So Unwieldy An Empire Upon Him,  We May Easily

Comprehend That Antoninus Often Had Need Of All His Fortitude To Support

Him. The Best And The Bravest Men Have Moments Of Doubt And Of Weakness;

But If They Are The Best And The Bravest,  They Rise Again From Their

Depression By Recurring To First Principles,  As Antoninus Does. The

Emperor Says That Life Is Smoke,  A Vapor,  And St. James In His Epistle

Is Of The Same Mind; That The World Is Full Of Envious,  Jealous,

Malignant People,  And A Man Might Be Well Content To Get Out Of It. He

Has Doubts Perhaps Sometimes Even About That To Which He Holds Most

Firmly. There Are Only A Few Passages Of This Kind,  But They Are

Evidence Of The Struggles Which Even The Noblest Of The Sons Of Men Had

To Maintain Against The Hard Realities Of His Daily Life. A Poor Remark

It Is Which I Have Seen Somewhere,  And Made In A Disparaging Way,  That

The Emperor's Reflections Show That He Had Need Of Consolation And

Comfort In Life,  And Even To Prepare Him To Meet His Death. True That He

Did Need Comfort And Support,  And We See How He Found It. He Constantly

Recurs To His Fundamental Principle That The Universe Is Wisely Ordered,

That Every Man Is A Part Of It And Must Conform To That Order Which He

Cannot Change,  That Whatever The Deity Has Done Is Good,  That All

Mankind Are A Man's Brethren,  That He Must Love And Cherish Them And Try

To Make Them Better,  Even Those Who Would Do Him Harm. This Is His

Conclusion (Ii. 17): "What Then Is That Which Is Able To Conduct A Man?

One Thing And Only One,  Philosophy. But This Consists In Keeping The

Divinity Within A Man Free From Violence And Unharmed,  Superior To Pains

And Pleasures,  Doing Nothing Without A Purpose Nor Yet Falsely And With

Hypocrisy,  Not Feeling The Need Of Another Man's Doing Or Not Doing

Anything; And Besides,  Accepting All That Happens And All That Is

Allotted,  As Coming From Thence,  Wherever It Is,  From Whence He Himself

Came; And Finally Waiting For Death With A Cheerful Mind As Being

Nothing Else Than A Dissolution Of The Elements Of Which Every Living

Being Is Compounded. But If There Is No Harm,  To The Elements Themselves

In Each Continually Changing Into Another,  Why Should A Man Have Any

Apprehension About The Change And Dissolution Of All The Elements

[Himself]? For It Is According To Nature; And Nothing Is Evil That Is

According To Nature."

The Physic Of Antoninus Is The Knowledge Of The Nature Of The Universe,

Of Its Government,  And Of The Relation Of Man's Nature To Both. He Names

The Universe ([Greek: Hê Tôn Hylôn Ousia],  Vi. 1),[A] "The Universal

Substance," And He Adds That "Reason" ([Greek: Logos]) Governs The

Universe. He Also (Vi. 9) Uses The Terms "Universal Nature" Or "Nature

Of The Universe." He (Vi. 25) Calls The Universe "The One And All,  Which

We Name Cosmos Or Order" ([Greek: Kosmos]). If He Ever Seems To Use

These General Terms As Significant Of The All,  Of All That Man Can In

Any Way Conceive To Exist,  He Still On Other Occasions Plainly

Distinguishes Between Matter,  Material Things ([Greek: Hylê,  Hylikon]),

And Cause,  Origin,  Reason ([Greek: Aitia,  Aitiôdes,  Logos]).[B] This Is

Conformable To Zeno's Doctrine That There Are Two Original Principles

([Greek: Archai]) Of All Things,  That Which Acts ([Greek: To Poioun])

And That Which Is Acted Upon ([Greek: To Paschon]). That Which Is Acted

On Is The Formless Matter ([Greek: Hylê]): That Which Acts Is The Reason

([Greek: Logos]),  God,  Who Is Eternal And Operates Through All Matter,

And Produces All Things. So Antoninus (V. 32) Speaks Of The Reason

([Greek: Logos])Which Pervades All Substance ([Greek: Ousia]),  And

Through All Time By Fixed Periods (Revolutions) Administers The Universe

([Greek: To Pan]). God Is Eternal,  And Matter Is Eternal. It Is God Who

Gives Form To Matter,  But He Is Not Said To Have Created Matter.

According To This View,  Which Is As Old As Anaxagoras,  God And Matter

Exist Independently,  But God Governs Matter. This Doctrine Is Simply The

Expression Of The Fact Of The Existence Both Of Matter And Of God. The

Stoics Did Not Perplex Themselves With The In-Soluble Question Of The

Origin And Nature Of Matter.[C] Antoninus Also Assumes A Beginning Of

Things,  As We Now Know Them; But His Language Is Sometimes Very Obscure.

I Have Endeavored To Explain The Meaning Of One Difficult Passage (Vii.

75,  And The Note).

    [A] As To The Word [Greek: Ousia],  The Reader May See The

    Index. I Add Here A Few Examples Of The Use Of The Word;

    Antoninus Has (V. 24),  [Greek: Hê Sumpasa Ousia],  "The

    Universal Substance." He Says (Xii. 30 And Iv. 40),  "There Is

    One Common Substance" ([Greek: Ousia]),  Distributed Among

    Countless Bodies. In Stobaeus (Tom. 1,  Lib. 1,  Tit. 14) There

    Is This Definition,  [Greek: Ousian De Phasin Tôn Ontôn Hapantôn

    Tên Prôtên Hylên]. In Viii. Ii,  Antoninus Speaks Of [Greek: To

    Ousiôdes Kai Hyulikon],  "The Substantial And The Material;" And

    (Vii. 10) He Says That "Everything Material" ([Greek: Enulon])

    Disappears In The Substance Of The Whole ([Greek: Tê Tôn Holôn

    Ousia]). The [Greek: Ousia] Is The Generic Name Of That Existence

    Which We Assume As The Highest Or Ultimate,  Because We Conceive

    No Existence Which Can Be Coordinated With It And None Above

    It. It Is The Philosopher's "Substance:" It Is The Ultimate

    Expression For That Which We Conceive Or Suppose To Be The

    Basis,  The Being Of A Thing. "From The Divine,  Which Is

    Substance In Itself,  Or The Only And Sole Substance,  All And

    Everything That Is Created Exists" (Swedenborg,  Angelic Wisdom,

    198).

    [B] I Remark,  In Order To Anticipate Any Misapprehension,  That

    All These General Terms Involve A Contradiction. The "One And

    All," And The Like,  And "The Whole," Imply Limitation. "One" Is

    Limited; "All" Is Limited; The "Whole" Is Limited. We Cannot

    Help It. We Cannot Find Words To Express That Which We Cannot

    Fully Conceive. The Addition Of "Absolute" Or Any Other Such

    Word Does Not Mend The Matter. Even The Word God Is Used By

    Most People,  Often Unconsciously,  In Such A Way That Limitation

    Is Implied,  And Yet At The Same Time Words Are Added Which Are

    Intended To Deny Limitation. A Christian Martyr,  When He Was

    Asked What God Was,  Is Said To Have Answered That God Has No

    Name Like A Man; And Justin Says The Same (Apol. Ii. 6),  "The

    Names Father,  God,  Creator,  Lord,  And Master Are Not Names,  But

    Appellations Derived From Benefactions And Acts." (Compare

    Seneca,  De Benef. Iv. 8.) We Can Conceive The Existence Of A

    Thing,  Or Rather We May Have The Idea Of An Existence,  Without

    An Adequate Notion Of It,  "Adequate" Meaning Coextensive And

    Coequal With The Thing. We Have A Notion Of Limited Space

    Derived From The Dimensions Of What We Call A Material Thing,

    Though Of Space Absolute,  If I May Use The Term,  We Have No

    Notion At All; And Of Infinite Space The Notion Is The Same--No

    Notion At All; And Yet We Conceive It In A Sense,  Though I Know

    Not How,  And We Believe That Space Is Infinite,  And We Cannot

    Conceive It To Be Finite.

    [C] The Notions Of Matter And Of Space Are Inseparable. We

    Derive The Notion Of Space From Matter And Form. But We Have No

    Adequate Conception Either Of Matter Or Space. Matter In Its

    Ultimate Resolution Is As Unintelligible As What Men Call Mind,

    Spirit,  Or By Whatever Other Name They May Express The Power

    Which Makes Itself Known By Acts. Anaxagoras Laid Down The

    Distinction Between Intelligence [Greek: Nous] And Matter,  And

    He Said That Intelligence Impressed Motion On Matter,  And So

    Separated The Elements Of Matter And Gave Them Order; But He

    Probably Only Assumed A Beginning,  As Simplicius Says,  As A

    Foundation Of His Philosophical Teaching. Empedocles Said,  "The

    Universe Always Existed." He Had No Idea Of What Is Called

    Creation. Ocellus Lucanus (I,  § 2) Maintained That The Universe

    ([Greek: To Pan]) Was Imperishable And Uncreated. Consequently

    It Is Eternal. He Admitted The Existence Of God; But His

    Theology Would Require Some Discussion. On The Contrary,  The

    Brachmans,  According To Strabo (P. 713,  Ed. Cas.),  Taught That

    The Universe Was Created And Perishable; And The Creator And

    Administrator Of It Pervades The Whole. The Author Of The Book

    Of Solomon's Wisdom Says (Xi. 17): "Thy Almighty Hand Made The

    World Of Matter Without Form," Which May Mean That Matter

    Existed Already.