Book Three
We ought to consider not only that our life
is daily wasting away and a smaller part
of it is left, but another thing also must
be taken into the account, that if a man
should live longer, it is quite uncertain
whether the understanding will still continue
sufficient for the comprehension of things,
and retain the power of contemplation which
strives to acquire the knowledge of the divine
and the human. For if he shall begin to fall
into dotage, perspiration and nutrition and
imagination and appetite, and whatever else
there is of the kind, will not fail; but
the power of making use of ourselves, and
filling up the measure of our duty, and clearly
separating all appearances, and considering
whether a man should now depart from life,
and whatever else of the kind absolutely
requires a disciplined reason, all this is
already extinguished. We must make haste
then, not only because we are daily nearer
to death, but also because the conception
of things and the understanding of them cease
first.
We ought to observe also that even the things
which follow after the things which are produced
according to nature contain something pleasing
and attractive. For instance, when bread
is baked some parts are split at the surface,
and these parts which thus open, and have
a certain fashion contrary to the purpose
of the baker's art, are beautiful in a manner,
and in a peculiar way excite a desire for
eating. And again, figs, when they are quite
ripe, gape open; and in the ripe olives the
very circumstance of their being near to
rottenness adds a peculiar beauty to the
fruit. And the ears of corn bending down,
and the lion's eyebrows, and the foam which
flows from the mouth of wild boars, and many
other things- though they are far from being
beautiful, if a man should examine them severally-
still, because they are consequent upon the
things which are formed by nature, help to
adorn them, and they please the mind; so
that if a man should have a feeling and deeper
insight with respect to the things which
are produced in the universe, there is hardly
one of those which follow by way of consequence
which will not seem to him to be in a manner
disposed so as to give pleasure. And so he
will see even the real gaping jaws of wild
beasts with no less pleasure than those which
painters and sculptors show by imitation;
and in an old woman and an old man he will
be able to see a certain maturity and comeliness;
and the attractive loveliness of young persons
he will be able to look on with chaste eyes;
and many such things will present themselves,
not pleasing to every man, but to him only
who has become truly familiar with nature
and her works.
Hippocrates after curing many diseases himself
fell sick and died. The Chaldaei foretold
the deaths of many, and then fate caught
them too. Alexander, and Pompeius, and Caius
Caesar, after so often completely destroying
whole cities, and in battle cutting to pieces
many ten thousands of cavalry and infantry,
themselves too at last departed from life.
Heraclitus, after so many speculations on
the conflagration of the universe, was filled
with water internally and died smeared all
over with mud. And lice destroyed Democritus;
and other lice killed Socrates. What means
all this? Thou hast embarked, thou hast made
the voyage, thou art come to shore; get out.
If indeed to another life, there is no want
of gods, not even there. But if to a state
without sensation, thou wilt cease to be
held by pains and pleasures, and to be a
slave to the vessel, which is as much inferior
as that which serves it is superior: for
the one is intelligence and deity; the other
is earth and corruption.
Do not waste the remainder of thy life in
thoughts about others, when thou dost not
refer thy thoughts to some object of common
utility. For thou losest the opportunity
of doing something else when thou hast such
thoughts as these, What is such a person
doing, and why, and what is he saying, and
what is he thinking of, and what is he contriving,
and whatever else of the kind makes us wander
away from the observation of our own ruling
power. We ought then to check in the series
of our thoughts everything that is without
a purpose and useless, but most of all the
over-curious feeling and the malignant; and
a man should use himself to think of those
things only about which if one should suddenly
ask, What hast thou now in thy thoughts?
With perfect openness thou mightest, immediately
answer, This or That; so that from thy words
it should be plain that everything in thee
is simple and benevolent, and such as befits
a social animal, and one that cares not for
thoughts about pleasure or sensual enjoyments
at all, nor has any rivalry or envy and suspicion,
or anything else for which thou wouldst blush
if thou shouldst say that thou hadst it in
thy mind. For the man who is such and no
longer delays being among the number of the
best, is like a priest and minister of the
gods, using too the deity which is planted
within him, which makes the man uncontaminated
by pleasure, unharmed by any pain, untouched
by any insult, feeling no wrong, a fighter
in the noblest fight, one who cannot be overpowered
by any passion, dyed deep with justice, accepting
with all his soul everything which happens
and is assigned to him as his portion; and
not often, nor yet without great necessity
and for the general interest, imagining what
another says, or does, or thinks. For it
is only what belongs to himself that he makes
the matter for his activity; and he constantly
thinks of that which is allotted to himself
out of the sum total of things, and he makes
his own acts fair, and he is persuaded that
his own portion is good. For the lot which
is assigned to each man is carried along
with him and carries him along with it. And
he remembers also that every rational animal
is his kinsman, and that to care for all
men is according to man's nature; and a man
should hold on to the opinion not of all,
but of those only who confessedly live according
to nature. But as to those who live not so,
he always bears in mind what kind of men
they are both at home and from home, both
by night and by day, and what they are, and
with what men they live an impure life. Accordingly,
he does not value at all the praise which
comes from such men, since they are not even
satisfied with themselves.
Labour not unwillingly, nor without regard
to the common interest, nor without due consideration,
nor with distraction; nor let studied ornament
set off thy thoughts, and be not either a
man of many words, or busy about too many
things. And further, let the deity which
is in thee be the guardian of a living being,
manly and of ripe age, and engaged in matter
political, and a Roman, and a ruler, who
has taken his post like a man waiting for
the signal which summons him from life, and
ready to go, having need neither of oath
nor of any man's testimony. Be cheerful also,
and seek not external help nor the tranquility
which others give. A man then must stand
erect, not be kept erect by others.
If thou findest in human life anything better
than justice, truth, temperance, fortitude,
and, in a word, anything better than thy
own mind's self-satisfaction in the things
which it enables thee to do according to
right reason, and in the condition that is
assigned to thee without thy own choice;
if, I say, thou seest anything better than
this, turn to it with all thy soul, and enjoy
that which thou hast found to be the best.
But if nothing appears to be better than
the deity which is planted in thee, which
has subjected to itself all thy appetites,
and carefully examines all the impressions,
and, as Socrates said, has detached itself
from the persuasions of sense, and has submitted
itself to the gods, and cares for mankind;
if thou findest everything else smaller and
of less value than this, give place to nothing
else, for if thou dost once diverge and incline
to it, thou wilt no longer without distraction
be able to give the preference to that good
thing which is thy proper possession and
thy own; for it is not right that anything
of any other kind, such as praise from the
many, or power, or enjoyment of pleasure,
should come into competition with that which
is rationally and politically or practically
good. All these things, even though they
may seem to adapt themselves to the better
things in a small degree, obtain the superiority
all at once, and carry us away. But do thou,
I say, simply and freely choose the better,
and hold to it.- But that which is useful
is the better.- Well then, if it is useful
to thee as a rational being, keep to it;
but if it is only useful to thee as an animal,
say so, and maintain thy judgement without
arrogance: only take care that thou makest
the inquiry by a sure method.
Never value anything as profitable to thyself
which shall compel thee to break thy promise,
to lose thy self-respect, to hate any man,
to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite,
to desire anything which needs walls and
curtains: for he who has preferred to everything
intelligence and daemon and the worship of
its excellence, acts no tragic part, does
not groan, will not need either solitude
or much company; and, what is chief of all,
he will live without either pursuing or flying
from death; but whether for a longer or a
shorter time he shall have the soul inclosed
in the body, he cares not at all: for even
if he must depart immediately, he will go
as readily as if he were going to do anything
else which can be done with decency and order;
taking care of this only all through life,
that his thoughts turn not away from anything
which belongs to an intelligent animal and
a member of a civil community.
In the mind of one who is chastened and purified
thou wilt find no corrupt matter, nor impurity,
nor any sore skinned over. Nor is his life
incomplete when fate overtakes him, as one
may say of an actor who leaves the stage
before ending and finishing the play. Besides,
there is in him nothing servile, nor affected,
nor too closely bound to other things, nor
yet detached from other things, nothing worthy
of blame, nothing which seeks a hiding-place.
Reverence the faculty which produces opinion.
On this faculty it entirely depends whether
there shall exist in thy ruling part any
opinion inconsistent with nature and the
constitution of the rational animal. And
this faculty promises freedom from hasty
judgement, and friendship towards men, and
obedience to the gods.
Throwing away then all things, hold to these
only which are few; and besides bear in mind
that every man lives only this present time,
which is an indivisible point, and that all
the rest of his life is either past or it
is uncertain. Short then is the time which
every man lives, and small the nook of the
earth where he lives; and short too the longest
posthumous fame, and even this only continued
by a succession of poor human beings, who
will very soon die, and who know not even
themselves, much less him who died long ago.
To the aids which have been mentioned let
this one still be added:- Make for thyself
a definition or description of the thing
which is presented to thee, so as to see
distinctly what kind of a thing it is in
its substance, in its nudity, in its complete
entirety, and tell thyself its proper name,
and the names of the things of which it has
been compounded, and into which it will be
resolved. For nothing is so productive of
elevation of mind as to be able to examine
methodically and truly every object which
is presented to thee in life, and always
to look at things so as to see at the same
time what kind of universe this is, and what
kind of use everything performs in it, and
what value everything has with reference
to the whole, and what with reference to
man, who is a citizen of the highest city,
of which all other cities are like families;
what each thing is, and of what it is composed,
and how long it is the nature of this thing
to endure which now makes an impression on
me, and what virtue I have need of with respect
to it, such as gentleness, manliness, truth,
fidelity, simplicity, contentment, and the
rest. Wherefore, on every occasion a man
should say: this comes from God; and this
is according to the apportionment and spinning
of the thread of destiny, and such-like coincidence
and chance; and this is from one of the same
stock, and a kinsman and partner, one who
knows not however what is according to his
nature. But I know; for this reason I behave
towards him according to the natural law
of fellowship with benevolence and justice.
At the same time however in things indifferent
I attempt to ascertain the value of each.
If thou workest at that which is before thee,
following right reason seriously, vigorously,
calmly, without allowing anything else to
distract thee, but keeping thy divine part
pure, as if thou shouldst be bound to give
it back immediately; if thou holdest to this,
expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied
with thy present activity according to nature,
and with heroic truth in every word and sound
which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy.
And there is no man who is able to prevent
this.
As physicians have always their instruments
and knives ready for cases which suddenly
require their skill, so do thou have principles
ready for the understanding of things divine
and human, and for doing everything, even
the smallest, with a recollection of the
bond which unites the divine and human to
one another. For neither wilt thou do anything
well which pertains to man without at the
same time having a reference to things divine;
nor the contrary.
No longer wander at hazard; for neither wilt
thou read thy own memoirs, nor the acts of
the ancient Romans and Hellenes, and the
selections from books which thou wast reserving
for thy old age. Hasten then to the end which
thou hast before thee, and throwing away
idle hopes, come to thy own aid, if thou
carest at all for thyself, while it is in
thy power.
They know not how many things are signified
by the words stealing, sowing, buying, keeping
quiet, seeing what ought to be done; for
this is not effected by the eyes, but by
another kind of vision.
Body, soul, intelligence: to the body belong
sensations, to the soul appetites, to the
intelligence principles. To receive the impressions
of forms by means of appearances belongs
even to animals; to be pulled by the strings
of desire belongs both to wild beasts and
to men who have made themselves into women,
and to a Phalaris and a Nero: and to have
the intelligence that guides to the things
which appear suitable belongs also to those
who do not believe in the gods, and who betray
their country, and do their impure deeds
when they have shut the doors. If then everything
else is common to all that I have mentioned,
there remains that which is peculiar to the
good man, to be pleased and content with
what happens, and with the thread which is
spun for him; and not to defile the divinity
which is planted in his breast, nor disturb
it by a crowd of images, but to preserve
it tranquil, following it obediently as a
god, neither saying anything contrary to
the truth, nor doing anything contrary to
justice. And if all men refuse to believe
that he lives a simple, modest, and contented
life, he is neither angry with any of them,
nor does he deviate from the way which leads
to the end of life, to which a man ought
to come pure, tranquil, ready to depart,
and without any compulsion perfectly reconciled
to his lot.
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