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THE THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR. 
 
 M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 
 
 V 
 
 TRANSLATED BY GEORGE LONG. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 JOHN B. ALDEK, PUBLISHER 
 
 1891 
 

 <3ift from 
 tvirs. Etta F, Winter 
 Sept. 20 1932 
 
17^ 
 
 </ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 M. AuREiJus Antoninus ..... 5 
 The Philosophy of Antoninus ... 19 
 
 Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus . 41 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH > 
 
 OF 
 
 M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 
 
 M. Antoninus was born at Rome a. d. 121, on the26*L of 
 April. His fatlier Aanius Yerus died while he was praeior. 
 His mother was Don itia Calvilla, also named Lucilla. The 
 Emperor Antoninus Pius married Annia Galeria Faustina, . 
 the sister of Annius 7erus, and was conse^quentiy Antoni- 
 nus' uncle. When Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius and 
 declared him his suci:essor in the empire, Antoninus Pius 
 adopted both L. Ceionius Commodus, the son of Aeliua 
 Caesar, and M. Antoninus, whose original name was M. 
 Annius Yerus. Amoninus took the name of M. Aelius 
 Aurelius Yerus, to w hich was added the title of Caesar in 
 A. D. 139 : the name Aelius belonged to Hadrian's familjj, 
 and Aurelius was tho name of Antoninus Pius. When M.- 
 Antoninus became Augustus, he dropped the name of Yerus 
 and took the name of Antoninus. Accordingly he is gener?- 
 ally named M. Aurelius Antoninus, or simply M. Anton* 
 inus. 
 
 The youth was most carefully brought up. He thanks 
 the gods (i. 17) that he had good grandfathers, good par- 
 ents, a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good 
 kinsmen and friends, nearly everything good. He had the 
 happy fortune to witness the example of his uncle and 
 adoptive father Antoninus Pius, and he has recorded in his 
 work (i. 16 ; vi. 30) the virtues of this excellent man and 
 prudent ruler. Like many young Romans he tried his hand 
 at poetry and studied rhetoric. Herodes Atticus and M. 
 Cornelius Pronto were his teachers in eloquence. There 
 are extant letters between Pronto and Marcus, which show 
 the great affection of the pupil for the master, and the mas- 
 ter's great hopes of his Industrious pupil. M. Antoninus 
 jtnentions Pronto (i. 11) among those to whom he was in- 
 debted for his education. 
 
 When he was eleven years old, he assumed the ,dress of 
 philosophers, something plain and coarse, became a hard 
 .student, and lived a mOst laborious abstemious life, even so 
 far as to injure his health. Pinally, he abandoned poetry 
 rand rhetoric for philosophy, and he attached himself to the 
 sect of the Stoics. But he did not neglect the study of law, 
 which was a useful preparation for the high place which lie 
 was designed to fill. His teacher was L. Yolusianus Mae- 
 cianus, a distinguished jurist. We must suppose that he 
 learned the Roman discipline of arms, which was a neces- 
 sary part of the education of a man who afterwards led b.i» 
 troops to battle against a warlike race. - 
 
8 SIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 Antoninus has recorded in his first book the names of his 
 teachers and the obligations which he owed to each of 
 them. The way in which he speaks of what he learned 
 from them might seem to savor of vanity or self-praise, if 
 we look carelessly at the way in which he has expressed 
 himself ; but if any one draws this conclusion, he will be 
 mistaken. Antoninus means to commemorate the merits 
 of his several teachers, what they taught and what a pupil 
 might learn from them. Besides, this book like the eleven 
 other books, was for his own use, and if we may trust the 
 note at the end of tbe first book, it was written during one 
 of M. Antoninus' campaigns against the Quadi, at a time 
 when the commemoration of the virtues of his illustrious 
 teachers might remind him of their lessons and the practi- 
 cal uses which he might derive from them. 
 
 Among his teachers of philosophy was Sextus of Chae- 
 roneia, a grandson of Plutarch. What he learned from this 
 excellent man is told by himself (i. 9). His favorite teacher 
 was Q. Junius. Eusticus (i. 7), a philosopher and also amah 
 of practical good sense in public affairs. Rusticus was the 
 adviser of Antoninus after he became emperor. Toung 
 men who are destined for high places are not often fortu- 
 nate in those who are about them, their companions and 
 teachers ; and I do not know any example of a young 
 prince having liad an education which can be compared 
 with that of M. Antoninus. Such a body of teachers dis- 
 tinguished by their acquirements and their character will 
 hardly be collected again ; and as to the pupil, we have not 
 had one like him since. 
 
 Hadrian died in July A. D. 138. and was succeeded by 
 Antoninus Pius. M. Antoninus manled Faustina, his 
 cousin, the daughter of Pius, probably about A. d. 146, for 
 he had a daughter born in 147. M. Antoninus received 
 from his adoptive father the title of Caesar and was associ- 
 ated with him in the administration of the state. The 
 . father and the adopted son lived together in perfect friend- 
 ship and confidence. Antoninus was a dutiful son, and the 
 emperor Pius loved and esteemed him. 
 
 Antoninus Piui died in March 161. The Senate, it is 
 said, urged M. Antoninus to take the solemn administra- 
 tion of the empire, but he associated with himself the other 
 adopted son of Pius, L. Ceionius Commodus, who is gener- 
 ally called L. Verus. Thus Eome for the first time had 
 two emperors. Verus was an indolent man of pleasure and 
 unworthy of his station. Antoninus however bore with 
 him, and it is said that Verus had sense enough to pay to 
 his colleague the respect due to his character. A virtuous 
 emperor and a loose partner lived together in peace, and 
 their alliance was strengthened by ^toninus giving to 
 Verus for wife his daughter Lucilla. 
 
 The reign of Antoninus was first troublea by a Parthian 
 VfAT., in which Verus was sent to command, but he did 
 nothing, and the success that was obtained by the Bomans 
 in Armenia and on the Euphrates and Tigris was due to his 
 generals. This Parthian war ended in 165. 
 
 The north of Italy was also threatened by the rude people 
 ■peyond the Alps from the borders of Qallia to the eastern 
 
M. AUnELIXTS ANTOKINXTS, 7 
 
 side of the Hadriatic- These barbarians attempted to break 
 into Italy, as the Germanic nations liad attempted near 
 three hundred years before; and tiie rest of the life of An- 
 toninus with some intervals was employed in driving back 
 the invaders. In 169 Verus suddenly died, and Antoninus 
 administered the state alone. 
 
 In A. D. 175 Avidius Cassius, a brave and skilful Roman 
 commander who was at the head of the troops in Asia, re- 
 volted and declared himself Augustus. But Cassins was 
 assassinated by some of his officers, and so the rebellion 
 came to an end. Antoninus showed his humanity by his 
 treatment of the family and the partisans of Cassius, and his 
 letter to the senate in which he recommends mercy is ex- 
 tant. (Vulcatius, Avidius Cassius, c. 12.) 
 
 Antoninus set out for the east on hearing of Cassius's re- 
 volt. We know that in A. d. 174 he was engaged in a war 
 against the Quadi, Marcomanni and other Germanic tribes, 
 and it is probable that he went direct from the German war 
 without returning to Rome. His wife Faustina who accom- 
 panied him into Asia died suddenly at the foot of the Tau- 
 rus to the great grief of her husband. Capitolinus- who has 
 written the life of Antoninus, and also Dion Cassius accuse 
 the empress of scandalous infidelity to her husband and of 
 abominable lewdness. But Capitolinus says that Antoninus 
 either knew it not or pretended not to know it. Nothing is 
 so common as such malicious reports in all ages, and the 
 history of imperial Rome is full of them. Antoninus loved 
 his wife and he says that she was " obedient, affectionate, 
 and simple." The same scandal had been spread aboift 
 Faustina's mother, the wife of Antoninus Pius, and yet be 
 too was perfectly satisfied with his wife. Antoninus Pius 
 says in a letter to Fronto that he would rather live in exile 
 with his wife than in his palace at Rome without her. 
 There are not many men who would give their wives a better 
 character than these two emperors. Capitolinus wrote ia 
 the time of Diocletian. He may have intended to tell th« 
 truth, but he is a poor, feeble biographer. Dion Cassiits, 
 the most malignant of historians, always reports and per- 
 haps he believed any scandal against anybody- 
 Antoninus continued his journey to Syria and Egypt, and 
 on his return to Italy through Athens he was initiated iiito 
 the Eleusinian mysteries. It was the practice of th« empercar 
 to conform to the established rites of the age and to perform 
 religious ceremonies with due solemnity. We cannot con- 
 clude from this that he was a superstitious man, though we 
 might perhaps do so, if his book did not show that he waa 
 not. But this is only one among many instances that a 
 ruler's pubUc acts do not always prove his real opinions. A 
 prudent governor will not roughly oppose even the supersti- 
 tions of his people, and though he may wish that they were 
 wiser, he will know that he cannot make them so by offend- 
 ing their prejudices. 
 
 Antoninus and his son Commodus entered Rome intfi- 
 umph on the 23d of December, a.d. 176. In the following 
 year Commodus was associated with his father in the empire 
 and took the name of Augustus. This year a.b. 177 is 
 memorable in ecclesiastical Ui story. Attalus and oth«rs 
 
8 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCB. 
 
 ■were put to death at Lyon for their adherence to the Chrisr 
 tian religion. The evidence of this persecution is a letter 
 preserved by Eusebius (E. H. v. 1; printed in Routh's Ee- 
 liquiae Sacrae, vol. i. with notes). The letter is from the 
 Christians of Vienna and Lugdunum in Gallia (Vienna and 
 Lyon) to their Christian brethren in Asia and Phrygia; and 
 it is preserved perhaps nearly entire. It contains a veiy 
 particular description of the tortures inflicted on the Chris- 
 tians in Grallia, a/id it states that while the persecution was 
 going on, Attains a Christian and a Roman citizen was 
 loudly demanded by the populace and brought into the am- 
 phitheatre, but the governor ordered him to be reserved with 
 the rest who were in prison until he had received instruc- 
 tions from the emperor. It is not clear who the "rest" 
 were who are mentioned in the letter. Many had been 
 tortured before the governor thought of applying to the 
 emperor. The imperial rescript, says the letter, was that 
 the Christians should be punished, but if they would deny 
 their faith, they must be released. On this the work began 
 again. The Christians who were Roman citizens were be- 
 headed: the rest were exposed to the wild beasts in the 
 amphitheatre. Some modern writers on ecclesiastical his- 
 tory, when they use this letter, say nothing of the wonderful 
 Btories of the martyrs' sufferings. Sanctus, as the letter 
 (jays, was burnt with plates of hot iron till his body was one 
 •tore and had lost all human form, but on being put to the 
 rack he recovered his former appearantie under the torture, 
 which was thus a cure instead of a punishment. He was 
 afterwards torn by beasts, and placed en an iron chair and 
 roasted. He died at last. 
 
 The letter is one piece of evidence. The writer, whoever 
 he v?as that wrote in the name of the Gallic Christians, is 
 our evidence both for the ordinary and the extraordinary 
 circumstances of the story, and we cannot accept his evi- 
 dence for one part and reject the other. We often receive 
 kinall evidence as proof of a thing which we believe to be 
 Within the limits of probability or possibility, and we reject 
 tkactly the same evidence, when the thing to which it refers 
 appears very improbable or impossible. But this is a false 
 knethod of inquiry, though it is followed by some modern 
 ♦rriters, who select what they like from a story and reject 
 the rest of the evidence; or if they do not reject it, they dis- 
 lioinestly suppress it. A man can only act consistently by 
 liccepting all this letter or rejecting it all, and we cannot 
 blame him for either. But he who rejects it may still ad- 
 toit that such a letter may be founded on real facts ; and he 
 would make this admission as the most probable way of 
 Bccounting for the existence of the letter : but if, as he 
 would suppose, the writer has stated some things falsely, he 
 cannot tell what part of his story is worthy of credit. 
 
 The war on the northern frontier appears to have been 
 uninterrupted during the visit of Antoninus to the East, and 
 ■ on his return the emperor again left Rome to oppose the 
 barbarians. The Germanic people were defeated in a great 
 battle A.D. 179. During this campaign the emperor was 
 seized with some contagious malady, of which he died in 
 the camp at Sirmium (Mitrovitz) on the Save in Lower Pan- 
 
M. AU MELIUS ANTONINUS. 9 
 
 nonia, but at Yindebona (Vienna) according to other au- 
 thorities, on the 17th of March A.d. 180, in the fifty-ninth 
 year of his age. His son Commodus was with him. His 
 body, or the ashes probably, was carried to Kome, and he 
 received the honor of deification. Those who could afford 
 it had his statue or bust, and when Capitolinus wrote, many 
 people still had statues of Antoninus among the Dei Pe- 
 nates or household deities. He was in a manner made a 
 saint. His son Commodus erected to his memory the An- 
 tonine column which is now in the Piazza Collona at Kome. 
 The bassi rilievi which are placed in a spii'al line round the 
 shaft commemorate his father's victories over the Marco- 
 manni and the Quadi, and the miraculous shower of i-aiu 
 which refreshed the Eoman soldiers and discomfited their 
 enemies. The statue of Antoninus was placed on the col- 
 umn, but it was removed at some time unknown, and a 
 bronze statue of St. Paul was put in its place by Pope Six- 
 tus the fifth. 
 
 The historical evidence for the times of Antoninus is very 
 defective, and some of that which remains is not credible. 
 The most curious is the story about the miracle which hap- 
 pened in A.D. 174, during the war with the Quadi. The 
 Eoman army was in danger of perishing by thirst, but a 
 sudden storm drenched them with rain, while it discharg(>d 
 fire and hail on their enemies, and the Romans gained a 
 great victory. AH the authorities which speak of the battle 
 speak also of the miracle. The Gentile writers assign it to 
 their gods, and the Christians to the intercession of the 
 Christian legion in the emperor's army. To confirm the 
 Christian statement it is added that the emperor gave the 
 title of Thundering to this legion ; but Dacier and others 
 who maintain the Christian report of the miracle, a.dmit 
 that this title of Thundering or Lightning was not given to 
 this legion because the Quadi were struck with lightning, 
 but because there was a figure of lightning on their shields, 
 and that this title of the legion existed in the time of Au- 
 gustus. 
 
 Scaliger also had observed that the legion was called 
 Thundering before the reign of Antoniiius. Welearirthia 
 from Dion Cassius (Lib. 55, c. 23, and the note of Reima- 
 rus) who enumerates all the legions of Augustus' time. Tha 
 name Thundering or Lightning also occurs on an inscrip» 
 tion of the reign of Trajan, which was found at Trieste, 
 Eusebius (v. 5) when he relates the miracle, quotes Apoli, 
 narius, bishop of Hierapolis, as authority for this pamf 
 being given to the legion Melitene by the emperor in conse. 
 qiience of the success which he obtained through theii 
 prayers ; from which we may estimate the value of Apolin- 
 arius' testimony. Eusebius does not say in what book o< 
 Apolinarius the statement occurs. Dion says that the 
 Thundering legion was stationed in Cappadocia in the tim« 
 of Augustus. Valesius also observes that in the Notitia ofr 
 the Imperium Romanum there is mentioned under the con?- 
 mander of Armenia the Praefectura of the twelfth legion 
 named " Thundering Melitene ; " and this position in 
 Armenia will agree with what Dion says of its position in 
 Cappadocia. Accordingly Valesius concludes that Melitene 
 
10 BIOGBAPIIICAL SKETCH. 
 
 was not the name of the legion, but of the town in which It 
 was statioiied. The legions did not, he says, take their 
 name from the place where they were on duty, but from the 
 country in which they were raised, and therefore, what 
 Eusebius says about the Melitene does not seem probable to 
 feirn. Yet Valesius on the authority of Apolinariua and 
 Tertullian believed that the miracle was worked through the 
 prayers of the Christian soldiers in the emperor's army, 
 kufinus does not give the name of Melitene to this legion, 
 says Valesius, and probably he purposely omitted it, be- 
 cause he knew that Melitene was the name of a town in Ar- 
 menia Minor, where the legion was stationed in his time. 
 
 The emperor, it is said, made a report of his victory to the 
 Senate, which we may believe, for such was the practice ; 
 but we do not know what ho said in his letter, for it is not 
 «xtant. Dacier assumes that the emperor's letter was pur- 
 posely destroyed by the Senate or the enemies of Chris- 
 Itanity, that so honorable a testimony to the Christians and 
 tJieir religion might not be pei-petuated. The critic has 
 however not seen that he contradicts himself when he tells 
 us the purport of the letter, for he says that it was destroyed, 
 and even Eusebius could not find it. But there does exist a 
 letter in Greek addressed by Antoninas to the Roman Sen- 
 ate after this memorable victory. It \a sometimes printed 
 after Justin's second Apology, though it is totally unconnec- 
 ted with the apologies. This letter is one of the most stupid 
 forgeries of the many which exist, and it cannot be possibly 
 founded even on the genuine report of Antoninus to the 
 Senate. If it were genuine, it would free the emperor from 
 the charge of persecuting men because they were Christians, 
 for he says in this false letter that if a man Accuse another 
 only of being a Christian and the accused confess and there 
 is nothing else against him, he must be set free; with this 
 monstrous addition made by a man Inconceivably ignorant, 
 that the informer must be burnt alive.* 
 
 During the time of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Antoni- 
 nus there appeared the first Apology of Justinus, and under 
 M. Antoninus the Oration of Tatian against the Greeks, 
 Which was a fierce attack on the established religions, the 
 address of Athenagoras to M. Antoninus on behalf of the 
 Christians, and the Apology of Melito, bishop of Sardes, 
 also addressed to the emperor, and that of Apolinarius. 
 The first Apology of Justinus is addressed to Antoninus 
 Pius and his two adopted sons M. Antoninus and L. Verus; 
 but we do not know whether they read it. The second 
 Apology of Justinus is addressed to the Roman Senate, but 
 
 * Euseblna (v. 6) quotes TertuUian's Apology to the Roman 
 Senate in confirmation of the story. Tertullian, he says, writes 
 that letters of the emperor were extant, in wliich he declares that 
 bis army was saved by the prayers of the Christians ; and that 
 he " threatened to piniish with death those who ventured to ac- 
 cuse us. " It is possible that the forged letter which is now ext.int 
 may be on« of those which Tertullian had seen, for he uses th« 
 pluEil number "letters." A great deal has been written about 
 this miracle of the Thucdeiing Legion, and more than is worth 
 . ijeading. 
 
M. AUHELIUS ANTOmKUS, ir] 
 
 there is nothing in it which shows its date. In one passage 
 where he is speaking of the persecution of the Christians, 
 Justinus says that even men who followed the Stoic doc- 
 trines, when they ordered their lives according to ethical 
 reason, were hated and murdered, such as Heraclitus, 
 Musonius in his own times and others ; for all those who in 
 any way labored to live according to reason and avoided 
 M ickedness were always hated ; and this was the effect of 
 the work of daemons. 
 
 Justinus himself is said to have been put to death at 
 Kome, because he refused to sacrifice to the gods; but the 
 circumstances of his death are doubtful, and the time is un- 
 certain. It cannot have been in the reign of Hadrian, as 
 one authority states ; nor in the time of Antoninus Pius, if 
 the second Apology was written in the time of M. Anton- 
 inus. 
 
 The persecution in which Polycarp suffered at Smyrna be- 
 longs to the time of M. Antoninus. The evidence for it is 
 the letter of the church of Smyrna to the churches of Philome- 
 lium and the other Christian churches, and it is preserved by 
 Eusebins (E. H. iv. 15). But the critics do not agree about 
 the time of Polycarp' s death, differing in the two extremes 
 to the amount of twelve years. The circimistances of Poly- 
 cap's martyrdom were accompanied by miracles, one of 
 which Eusebius (iv. 15) has omitted, but it appears in the 
 oldest Latin version of the letter, which Usher published, 
 and it is supposed that this version was made not long after 
 the time of Eusebius. The notice at the end of the letter 
 states that it was transcribed by Caius from the copy of 
 Irenaeus, the disciple of Polycarp, then transcribed by So- 
 crates at Corinth ; " after which I Pionius again wrote it 
 out from the copy above mentioned, having searched it ottt 
 by the revelation of Polycarp, who directed me to it," etc. 
 Tlie story of Polycarp's martyrdom is embellished with 
 miraculous circumstances which some modern writers on 
 ecclesiastical history take the liberty of omitting.* 
 
 In order to form a proper notion of the condition of the 
 Christians under M. Antoninus we must go back to Trajan's 
 time. When the younger Pliny was governor of Bithynia, 
 the Christians were numerous in those parts, and the wor- 
 shippers of the old religion were falling off. The temples 
 were deserted, the festivals neglected, and there were no 
 pm*chasers of victims for sacrifice. Those who were inter- 
 ested in the maintenance of the old religion thus found that 
 their profits were in danger. Christians of both sexes and 
 of all ages were brought before the governor, who did not 
 know what to do with them. He could come to no other 
 conclusion than this, that those who confessed to be Chris- 
 
 * Conyers Middleton, An Inquiry ijito the Miraculous Powers, 
 etc. p. 126. Middleton says that Eusebius omitted to mention tlie 
 dove, which flew out of Polycarp's body, and Dodwell and Arch- 
 bishop Wake have done the same. Wake says, " I am so little a 
 friend to such miracles that I thought it better with Eusebius to 
 omit that circumstance than to mention it from Bishop Usher'a 
 Manuscript," which manuscript however, says Middleton, be 
 afterwards declares to be so well attested that we need not *J» 
 fwrtfUer assurance of the truth of it. 
 
!l"2 ^lOGUAPBlGAL SKETCff. 
 
 tians and persevered in their religion ought to be ptmished; 
 if for nothing else, for their invincible obstinacy. He found 
 no crimes proved against the Christians, and he could only 
 characterize their religion as a depraved and extravagant 
 -superstition, which might be stopped, if the people were al- 
 lowed the opportunity of recanting. Pliny wrote this in a 
 letter to Trajan (Plinius, Ep. x. 97). He asked for the em- 
 peror's directions, because he did not know what to do: 
 He remarks that he had never been engaged in judicial in- 
 quiries about the Christians, and that accordingly he did 
 not know what or how far to inquire and punish. This 
 •proves that it was not a new thing to inquire into a man's 
 profession of Christianity and to punish him for it. Tra- 
 jan's Rescript is extant. He approved of the governor's 
 judgment in the matter ; but he said that no search must 
 be made after, the Christians ; if a man was charged with 
 the new religion and convicted, he must not be punished, 
 if he affirmed that he was not a Christian and confirmed his 
 denial by showing his reverence to the heathen gods. He 
 added that no notice must be taken of anonymous informa- 
 tions, for such things were of bad example. Trajan was a 
 mild and sensible man, and both motives of mercy and 
 policy probably also induced him to take as little notice of 
 the Christians as he could ; to let them live in quiet, if it 
 were possible. Trajan's Eescript is the first legislative act 
 of the head of the Roman state with reference to Chris- 
 tianity, which is known to us. It does not appear that the 
 Christians were further disturbed under his reign. The 
 martyrdom of Ignatius by the order of Trajan himself is not 
 universally admitted to be an historical fact. 
 
 In the time of Hadrian it was no longer possible for the 
 Roman government to overlook the great increase of the 
 Christians and the hostility of the common sort to them. 
 Jf the governors in the provinces wished to let them alone, 
 they could not resist the fanaticism of the heathen com- 
 munity, who looked on the Christians as atheists. The 
 Jews too who were settled all over the Roman Empire were 
 as hostile to the Christians as the Gentiles were. With the 
 time of Hadrian begin the Christian Apologies, which show 
 plainly what the popular feeling towards the Christians then 
 was. . A rescript of Hadrian to the Proconsul of Asia, 
 which stands at the end of Justin's first apology, instructs 
 the governor that innocent people must not be troubled and 
 false accusers must not be allowed to extort money from 
 them ; the charges against the Christians must be made in 
 due form and no attention must be paid to popular clamors: 
 when Christians were regularly prosecuted and convicted of 
 *iny illegal act, they must be punished according to their 
 deserts ; and false accusers also must be punished. An- 
 toninus Pius is said to have published Rescripts to the same 
 effect. The terms of Hadrian's Eescript seem very favor- 
 able to the Christians, but if we understand it in this sense, 
 that they were only to be punished like other people for 
 illegal acts, it would have had no meaning, for that could 
 have been done without asking the em];)eror's advice. The 
 real purpose of the Rescript is that Christians must be pun- 
 ished if they persisted in their belief, and would not prove 
 
M. auhelius antoninus. 13 
 
 their renunciation of it by acknowledging the heathen re- 
 ligion. This was Trajan's rule, and we have no reason for 
 supposing that Hadrian granted more to the Christians than 
 Trajan did. There is printed at the er.d of Justin's Apology 
 a Rescript of Antoninus Pius.to the Commune of Asia and 
 it is also in Eusebius*(E. H. iv. 13). The Rescript de- 
 clares that the Christians, for they are meant, though the 
 name Christians does not occur in the Rescript, were not to 
 be disturbed, unless they were attempting something against 
 the Roman rule, and no man was to be punished simply for 
 being a Christian. But this Rescript is spurious. Any 
 man moderately acquainted with Roman history will see at 
 once from the style and tenor that it is a clumsy forgery. 
 
 In the time of M. Antoninus the opposition between the 
 old and the new belief was still stronger, and the adherents 
 of the heathen religion urged those in authority to a more 
 regular resistance to the invasions of the Christian faith. 
 Melito in his apology to M. Antoninus represents the Chris- 
 tians of Asia as persecuted under new imperial orders. 
 Shameless informers, he says, men who were greedy after 
 the property of others, used these orders as a means of rob- 
 bing those who were doing no harm. He doubts if a just 
 ■-;',<Bmperor could have ordered anything so unjust ; and if the 
 ,jast order was really not from the emperor, the Christians 
 entreat him not to give them up to their enemies.! We con- 
 
 • In Eusebius the name at the beginning of the Rescript is that 
 of M. Antoninus ; and so we cannot tell to which of the two ewe 
 perors the forger assigned the Rescript. There are also a few 
 verbal differences. 
 
 ^ The author of the Alexandrine Chronicum says that Marcus 
 'being moved by tlie entreaties of Melito and other heads of the 
 church wrote an Epistle to the Commune of Asia in which he for- 
 bade the Christians to be troubled on account of their religion. 
 Valesius supposes this to be the letter which is contained in 
 Eusebius (iv. 13). and to be the answer to the apology of Melito 
 •of which I shall soon give the substance. But Marcus certainly 
 did not write this letter which is in Eusebius, and we know not 
 what answer he made to Melito. 
 
 t Eusebius, iv. 26; and Routh's Reliquiae, Sacrse vol. I. and the 
 notes. The interpretation of this Fragment is not easy. Mosheim 
 misunderstood one passage so far as to affirm that Marcus prom- 
 ised rewards to those who denounced the Christians; an interpre- 
 ,taticu which is eutirely false- Melito calls the Christian religion 
 '■f our philosophy," which began among barbarians (the Jews), and 
 flourished among the Roman subjects in the time of Augustus, to 
 the great advantage of the empire, for from that time the power 
 of the Romans grew great and glorious. He says that the emper- 
 or has and will have as the successor to Augustus' power the 
 good wishes of men, if he will protect that philosophy which 
 grew up with the empire and began with Augustus, which phil- 
 osophy the predecessors of Antoninus honored in addition to the 
 other religions. He further says that the Christian religion had 
 suffered no harm since the time of Augustus, but on the contrary 
 had enjoyed all honor and respect that any man could desire. 
 Nero and Domitian, he says, were alone persuaded by some ma- 
 licious men to calumniate the Christian religion, and this was the 
 origin of the false charges against the Christians. But this was 
 corrected by the emperers wlio immediately preceded Antoninus, 
 whoofteu by their Rescripts reproved those who attempted to 
 
14 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 elude from this that there were at least imperial Recruits 
 or Constitutions of M. Antoninus, which were made the 
 foundation of these persecutions. The fact of being a 
 Christian was now a crime and punished, unless the accused 
 denied their religion. Then come the persecutions lat 
 iSmyrna, which some modern critics place in A. d. 167, ten 
 years before the persecution of Lyon. The governors of 
 the provinces under M. Antoninus might have found enough 
 even in Trajan's Rescript to warrant them in punishing 
 Christians, and the fanaticism of the people would drive 
 them to persecution, even if they were unwilling. But be- 
 sides the fact of the Christians rejecting all the heathen 
 ceremonies, we must not forget that they plainly maintained 
 that all the heathen religions were false. The Christians 
 thus declared war against the heathen rites, and it is hardty 
 necessary to observe that this was a declaration of hostility 
 against the Roman government, which tolerated all the va- 
 rious forms of superstition that existed in the empire, and 
 could not consistently tolerate another religion, which de- 
 clared that all the rest were false, and all the splendid cer- 
 monies of the empire only a worship of devils. 
 
 If we had a true ecclesiastical history, we should know hoT* 
 the Roman emperors attempted to check the new religion, 
 how they enforced their principle of finally punishing Chris- 
 tians, simply as Christians, which Justin in his Apology 
 affirms that they did, and I have no doubt that he tells the 
 truth; how far popular clamor and riots went in this mat- 
 ter, and how far many fanatical and ignorant Christian^, 
 for there were many such, contributed to excite the fanati- 
 cism on the other side and to embitter the quarrel between 
 the Roman government and the new religion. Our extant 
 ecclesiastical histories are manifestly falsified, and what 
 truth they contain is grossly exaggerated ; but the fact is 
 certain that in the time of M. Antoninus the heathen popur 
 lations were in open hostility to the Christians, and that 
 under Antoninus' rule men were put to death because thev 
 were Christians. Eusebius in the preface to his fifth boo^ 
 remarliS that in the seventeenth year of Antoninus' reign ^ 
 
 trouble the Christians. Hadrian, Antoninus' grandfather, wrote 
 to many, and among them to the governor of Asia. Antoninus 
 Pius when Marcus was associated with him in the empire wrote 
 to the cities, that they must not trouble the Christians; amonj; 
 others to the people of Larissa, Thessalonica, the Athenians and 
 all the Greeks. Melito concluded thus : We are persuaded that 
 thou who hast about these things the same mind that they had, 
 nay rather one much more humane and philosophical, wilt do all 
 that we ask thee. — This Apology was written after A. ». 169, the 
 year in which Verus died, for it speaks of Marcus only and his 
 eon Commodus. According to Melito's testimony, Christians had 
 only been punished for their religion in the time of Nero and 
 Domitian, and the persecutions began again in the time of M. 
 Antoninus and were founded on his orders, which were abused 
 as he seems to mean. He distinctly affirms " that the race of 
 the godly is now persecuted and harrassed by fresh imperial 
 orders in Asia, a thing which had never happened before." But 
 we know that all this is not true, and that Christians had been 
 >uui8Ued iu Trajan's time. 
 
M. AUEELJUS AXTONINUS. 15 
 
 tn some parts of the world the persecution of the Christians 
 became more violent, and that it proceeded from the popu- 
 lace in the cities ; and he adds hi his usual style of exaggera- 
 tion, that we may infer from what took place in a single 
 nation that myriads of martyrs were made in the habitable 
 earth. The nation which he alludes to is Gallia; and he 
 then proceeds to give the letter of the churches of Vienna 
 and Lugdunura. It is probable that he has assigned the 
 true cause of the persecutions, the fanaticism of the popu- 
 lace, and that both governors and emperor liad a great deal 
 of trouble with these disturbances. How far Marcus was 
 cognizant of these cruel proceedings we do not know, for 
 the historical records of his reign are very defective. He 
 did not make the rule against the Christians, for Trajan did 
 that; and if we admit that he would have been willing to 
 let the Christians alone, we cannot affirm that it was in his 
 power, for it would be a great mistake to suppose that An- 
 toninus had the unlimited authority, which some modem 
 sovereigns have had. His power was limited by certain 
 constitutional forms, by the Senate, and by the precedents 
 of Ills predecessors. We cannot admit that such a man was 
 an active persecutor, for there is no evidence that he was, 
 though it is certain that he had no good opinion of the 
 Christians, as appears from his own words.* But he knew 
 nothing of them except their hostility to the Roman relig- 
 ion, and he probably tliought that they were dangerous to 
 the state, notwithstanding the professions false or true of 
 some of the Apologists. So much I have said, because it 
 would be unfair not to state all that can be urged against 
 a man whom his contemporaries and subsequent ages ven- 
 
 • See XI. 3. The emperor probably speaks of such fanatics as 
 Clemens (quoted by Gataker on tliis passage) mentions. The 
 rational Christians admitted no fellowship with them. " Some of 
 these heretics, says Clemens, " show their impiety and cowardice 
 by loving their lives, saying that the knowledge of the really ex- 
 isting God is true testimony (martyrdom), but that a man is a 
 self-murderer who bears witness by his death. We also blame 
 those who rush to death, for there are some, not of us, but only 
 bearing the same name who give themselves up. We say of them 
 that they die without being niiirtyrs, even if they are publicly 
 punished; and they give themselves uji to a death which avails 
 nothing, as the hidian Gynmosophists give themselves up foolish- 
 ]}■ to fire." Cave in his Primitive Christianity (ii. c. 7) says of 
 the Christians : " They did flock to the place of torment faster 
 than droves of beasts that are driven to the shambles- They even 
 ionged to be in the arms of suffering. Ignatius, though then in 
 his journey to Rome in order to his execution, yet by the way aa 
 he went could not but vent his passionate desire of it : O that I 
 might come to those wild beasts, that are prepared for me ; I 
 heartily wish that I may presently meet with them ; I would invite 
 and encourage tliem speedily to devour me, and not be afraid to 
 set upon me as they have been to others ; nay, should they refuse 
 it. I would even force them to it; and more to the same purpose 
 i.«oni Eusebius. Cave, an honest and good man, says all this in 
 prf.ise of the Christians: but I think that he mistook the matter. 
 We admire a man who holds to his principles even to death ; but 
 these fanatical Christians ar<a the Gynmosophists whom Clemeiw 
 treats with disdain. 
 
16 BIOGBAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 crated as a model of virtue and benevolence. If I admlttecl 
 the genuineness of some documents, he would be altogether 
 clear from the charge of even allowing any persecutions ; 
 but as I seelc the truth and am sure that they are false, I 
 leave him to bear whatever blame is his due. I add that it 
 is quite certain that Antoninus did not derive any of his 
 Ethical principles from a religion of which he knew 
 nothing* 
 
 There is no doubt that the Emperor's Keflections or hii 
 Meditations, as they are generally named, is a genuine work. 
 In his first book he speaks of himself, his family, and his 
 teachers ; and in other books he mentions himself. Suidaa 
 notices a work of Antoninus in twelve books, which he 
 names the " conduct of his own life; " and he cites the book 
 under several words in his Dictionary, giving the emperor's 
 name, but not the title of the work. There are also pas- 
 sages cited by Suidas from Antoninus without mention of 
 the emperor's name. The true title of the workis unknown. 
 Xy lander who published the first edition of this book (Zurich, 
 1558, 8vo., with a Latin version) used a manuscript, which 
 contained the twelve books, but it i s not known where the 
 manuscript is now. The only other complete manuscript 
 which is known to exist is in the Vatican library, but it has 
 no title and no inscriptions of the several books : the eleventh 
 only has the inscription MdpKov avroKpdTopos marked with an 
 asterisk. The other Vatican manuscripts and the three 
 Florentine contain only excerpts from the emperer's book. 
 All the titles of the excerpts nearly agree with that which 
 Xylander prefixed to his editionv MdpKou 'Avrudvov AiiroKpd- 
 ropoi Tuv ds iavrbv ^i^Xla tj3. This title has been used 
 by all subsequent editors. We cannot tell whether Anto. 
 ninus divided his work into books or somebody else did it. 
 If the inscriptions at the end of the first and second books 
 are genuine, he may have made the division himself. 
 
 It is plain that the emperor wrote down his thoughts or 
 reflections as the occasions arose; and since they were intend- 
 ed for his own use, it is no improbable conjecture that he 
 left a complete copy behind him written with his own hand ; 
 for it is not likely that so diligent a man would use the labor 
 of a transcriber for such a purpose, and expose his most 
 secret thoughts to any other eye. He may have also intend- 
 ed the book for his son Commodus, who however had no 
 taste for his father's philosophy. Some careful hand pre- 
 served the precious volume ; and a work by Antoninus, i^ 
 mentioned by other late writers besides Suidas. ; 
 
 Many critics have labored on the text of Antoninus. The 
 most complete edition is that by Thomas Gataker, 1652, 4to. 
 The second edition of Gataker was superintended by George 
 Stanhope, 1697, 4to. There is also an edition of 1704. 
 Gataker made and suggested many good corrections, and he 
 also made a new Latin version, which is not a very good 
 
 •Dr. F. C. BaiTrin his work entitled Das Christenthum und die 
 Christliche Kirclie der drei ersten Jalirhunderte, etc. has exam- 
 ined this question with great good sense and fairness, and I be- 
 lieve he has stated the truth as wear as our authorities enable ua 
 to reach it 
 
M. AUEELIUS ANTONI^'US. 17 
 
 specimen of Latin, but it generally expresses the sense of 
 the original and often better than some of the more re- 
 cent translations. He added in the margin opposite to each 
 paragraph references to the other parallel passages ; and he 
 wrote a commentary, one of the most complete that has 
 been written on any ancient author. This commentary 
 contains the editor's exposition of the more difficult pas- 
 sages, and quotations from all the Greek andEoman writers 
 for the illustration of the text. It is a wonderful monument 
 of learning and labor, and certainly no Englishman has yet 
 done anything like it. At the end of his preface the editor 
 Bays that he wrote it at Eotherhithe near London in a severe 
 M'inter, when he was in the seventy-eighth year of his age, 
 1651, a time when Milton, Selden and other great men of 
 the Commonwealth time were living; and the great French 
 scholar Saumaise (Salmasius), with whom Gataker corre- 
 sponded and received help from him for his edition of Anto- 
 ninus. The Greek text has also been edited by J. M. 
 Schultz, Leipzig, 1802, 8vo; and by the learned Greek Ada- 
 mantius Corals, Paris, 1816, 8vo. The text of Schultz was 
 republished by Tauchnitz, 1821. 
 
 There are English, French, Italian and Spanish transla- 
 tions of M. Antoninus, and there may be others. I have 
 not seen all the English translations. There is one by 
 Jeremy Collier, 1702, 8vo, a most coarse and vulgar copy of 
 the original. The latest French translation by Alexis Pier- 
 ron in the collection of Charpentier is better than Dacier's, 
 which has been honored with an Italian version (Udine, 
 1772). There is an Italian version (1675) which I have not 
 seen. It is by a cardinal. " A man illustrious in the 
 church, the Cardinal Francis Barberini the elder, nephew 
 of Pope Urban VLII, occupied the last years of his life in 
 translating into his native language the thoughts of the 
 Roman emperor, in order to diffuse among the ffiithful the 
 fertilizing and vivifying seeds. He dedicated this transla- 
 tion to his soul, to make it, as he says in his energetic style, 
 redder than his purple at the sight of the virtues of this 
 Gentile " (Pierron, Preface). I have made this translation 
 at intervals after having used the book for many years. It 
 is made from the Greek, but I have not always followed one 
 text, I have occasionally compared other versions. I made 
 this translation for my own use, because I found that it wsls 
 worth the labor. It may be useful to others also and at last 
 I have determined to print it, though, as the original is both 
 very difficult to understand and still more difficult to trans- 
 late, it is not possible that I have always avoided error. 
 But I belie\»e that I have not often missed the meaning, and 
 those who will take the trouble to compare the translation 
 with the original should not hastily conclude that I am 
 wrong, if they do not agree with me. Some passages do 
 give the meaning, though at first sight they may not appeaj 
 to do so; and when I differ from the translators, I thini 
 that in some places they are wrong, and in other places \ 
 am sure that they are. I have placed a t in some passages, 
 which indicates corruption in the text or great uncertainty 
 in the meaning. I could have mr.de the language more easy 
 And flowing, but I have preferred a somewhat ruder style aai 
 
n BlOGllAPiIICAL SKETCH. 
 
 being better suited to express the character of the original; 
 and sometimes the obscurity which may appear in the ver- 
 sion is a fair copy of the obscurity of the Greek. If I should 
 ever revise this version, I would gladly make use of any cor- 
 rections which may be suggested. In the text I have alwaya 
 i^iven the same translation of the same word. 
 
 The last reflection of the Stoic philosophy that I have ob- 
 served is in Simplicius' Commentary on the Enchiridion ol 
 Epictetus. Simplicius was not a Christian, and such a man 
 ft'as not likely to be converted at a time when Christianity 
 was grossly corrupted. But he was a really religious man, 
 and he concludes his commentary with a prayer to the Deity 
 which no Christian could improve. From the time of Zeno 
 to Simplicius, a period of about nine hundred years, the 
 Stoic philosophy formed the characters of some of the best 
 and greatest men. Finally it became extinct, and we hear 
 no more of it till the revival of letters in Italy. Angelo Po- 
 liziano met with two very inaccurate and incomplete manu- 
 scripts of Epictetus' Enchiridion, which he translated into 
 Latin and dedicated to his great patron Lorenzo de' Medici 
 in whose collection he had found the book. Poliziano'8 
 version was printed in the first Bale edition of the Enchiri* 
 dion, A.D. 1531 (apud And. Cratandrum). Poliziano recom- 
 mends the Enchiridion to Lorenzo as a work well suited to 
 his temper, and useful in the difl&culties by which he waa 
 surrounded. 
 
 Epictetus and Antoninus have had readers ever since they 
 were first printed. The little book of Antoninus has been 
 the companion of some great men. Machiavelli's Art of 
 War and Marcus Antoninus were the two books which were 
 used when he was a young man by Captain John Smith, 
 and he could not have found two writers better fitted to 
 form the character of a soldier and a man. Smith is almost 
 unknown ar d forgotten in England his native country, but 
 not in Amer ca where he saved the young colony of Virginia. 
 He was gres t in his heroic mind and his deeds in arms, but 
 greater still n the nobleness of his character. For a man's 
 greatness lie 3 not in wealth and station, as the vulgar believe, 
 hor yet in h:'3 intellectual capacity, which is often associated 
 with the me mest moral character, the most abject servility 
 to those in 1 igh places and arrogance to the poor and lowly; 
 but a man'? true greatness lies in the consciousness of an 
 honest purp 3se in life, founded on a just estimate of him- 
 self and eve ything else, on frequent self-examination, and 
 a steady obt dience to the rule which he knows to be right, 
 without troubling himself, as the emperor says he should 
 not, about -(/hat others may think or say, or whether they 
 do or do not do that which he thinks and says and does. 
 
THE 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF ANTOND US- 
 
 It has been said that the Stoic philosophy first showed its 
 feal value when it passed from Greece to liome. The 
 doctrines of Zeno and his successors were well suited to tlie 
 gravity and practical good sense .of the Romans; and even 
 in the Republican period we have an example of a man, M. 
 Cato Uticensis, who lived the life of a Stoic and died con- 
 sistently with the opinions which he professed. He was a 
 man, says Cicero, who embraced the Stoic philosophy from 
 conviction; not for the purpose of vain discussion, as most 
 did, but in order to make his life conformable to its precepts. 
 In the wretched times from the death of Augustus to the 
 murder of Domitian, there was nothing but the Stoic phil- 
 osophy which could console and support the followers of 
 the old religion under imperial tyranny and amidst universal 
 corruption. There were even then noble minds that could 
 dare and endure, sustained by a good conscience and an 
 elevated idea of the purposes of man's existence. Such 
 were Paetus Thrasea, Helvidius Priscus, Cornutus, C. 
 Musonius Rufus,* and the poets Persius and Juvenal, whose 
 energetic language and manly thoughts may be as instruc- 
 tive to us now as they might have been to their contem- 
 poraries. Persius died under Nero's bloody reign, but 
 Juvenal had the good fortune to survive the tyrant Domitian 
 and to see the better times of Nerva, Trajan and Hadrian. 
 His best precepts are derived from the Stoic school, and 
 they are enforced in his finest verses by the unrivalled vigoj 
 of the Latin language. 
 
 The two best expounders of the later Stoical philosoph} 
 were a Greek slave and a Roman emperor. Epictetus, s 
 Phrygian Greek, was brought to Rome, we know not how. 
 but he was there the slave and afterwards the freedman o< 
 an unworthy master, Epaphroditus by name, himself a freed 
 man and a favorite of Nero. Epictetus may have been t 
 hearer of C. Musonms Rufus, while he was still a slave 
 but he can hardly have been a teacher before he was madf 
 free. He was one of the philosophers whom Domitiaii'4 
 order banished from Rome. He retired to Nicopolis in 
 Epirus, and he may have died there. Like other greal 
 teachers he wrote nothing, and we are indebted to his grate- 
 ful pupil Arrian for what we have of Epictetus' discourses, 
 Arrian wrote eight books of the discourses of Epictetus, oi 
 
 * I have omitted Seneca, Nero's preceptor. He was in a sens* 
 a Stoic and he has said many good things in a very fine way. 
 There is a judgment of Gellins (xii. 2) on Seneca, or rather a state. 
 mentof what some people thought of liis philosophy, and it is nut 
 favorable. His writings and his life nnist be taken together, and 
 I have notUiug more to say of him here. 
 
20 THE PMiLOsopnr 
 
 which only four remain and some fragments. We have also 
 from Arrian's hand the small Enchiridion or Manual of the 
 chief precepts of Epictetus. There is a valuable commen- 
 tary on the Enchiridion by Simplicius, who lived in the 
 time of the emperor Justinian.* 
 
 Antoninus in his fii-st book (I. 7), in which he gratefully 
 commemorates his obligations to his teachers, says that he 
 Was made acquainted by Junius Rusticus with the dis- 
 courses of Epictetus, whom he mentions also in other pas- 
 sages (iv. 41; XI. 33. 36). Indeed, the doctrines of Epicte- 
 tus and Antoninus are the same, and Epictetus is the best 
 authority for the explanation of the philosophical language 
 of Antoninus and the exposition of his opinions. But the 
 method of the two philosophers is entirely different. Epic- 
 tetus addressed himself to his hearers in a continuous dis- 
 course aud in a familiar and simple manner. Antoninus 
 wrote doi/n his reflections for his own use only, in short un- 
 connected paragraphs, which are often obscure. 
 
 The Stoics made three divisions of philosophy, Physic, 
 Ethic and Logic. This division, we are told by Diogenes, 
 was made by Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic sect 
 and by Chrysippus; but these philosophers placed the three 
 divisions in the following order. Logic, Physic, Ethic. It 
 appeR,rs however that this division was made before Zeno's 
 time and acknowledged by Plato, as Cicero remarks (Acad. 
 Post. I. 5). Logic is not synonymous with our term Logic 
 in th3 narrower sense of that word. 
 
 Cleanthes, a Stoic, subdivided the three divisions, and 
 made six: Dialectic and Ehetoric, comprised in Logic; 
 Ethic and Politic; Physic and Theology. This division 
 was merely for practical use, for all Philosophy is one. Even 
 among the earliest Stoics Logic or Dialectic does not occupy 
 the same place as in Plato: it is considered only as ah in- 
 strument which is to be used for the other divisions of 
 Philosophy. An exposition of the earlier Stoic doctrines 
 and of their modifications would require a volume. My ob- 
 ject is tc explain only the opinions of Antoninus, so far as 
 they can be collected from his book. 
 
 According to the subdivision of Cleanthes, Physic and 
 Theology go together, or the study of the nature of Things, 
 and th(j study of the nature of the Deity, so far as man can 
 \inderstand the Deity, and of his government of the uni- 
 verse. This division or subdivision is not formally adopted 
 by Antoninus, for as already observed, there is no method 
 in his \)ook; but it is virtually contained in it. 
 
 Cleanthes also connects Ethic and Politic, or the study of 
 the principles of morals and the study of the constitution 
 of ci'/il society; and undoubtedly he did well in subdividing 
 Ethic into two parts. Ethic in the narrower sense and Poli- 
 tic, ioi though the two are intimately connected, they are 
 also very disMnct, and many questions can only be properly 
 discussed by carefully observing the distinction. Antoninus 
 
 * There is a complete edition of Arrian's Epictetus with the com- 
 mentary of Simplicius by J. Schweighaueser, 6 vols. 8vo. 1799, 
 1800. There is also an English translation of Epictetus by Mrs. 
 Carter. 
 
does not treat of Politic. His subject is Ethic, and Ethic 
 in its practical application to his own conduct in life as a man 
 and as a governor. His Ethic is founded on his doctrines 
 about man's nature. The Universal Nature and the relation of 
 every man to everything else. It is therefore intimately and 
 inseparably connected with Physic or the nature of Things 
 and with Theology or the nature of the Deity. He advises 
 us to examine well all the impressions on our minds and to 
 form a right judgment of them, to make just conclusions, 
 and to inquire into the meanings of words, and so far to 
 apply Dialectic, but he has no attempt at any exposition of 
 Dialectic, and his philosophy is in substance purely moral 
 and practical. He says (viii. 13), " Constantly and, if it be 
 possible, on the occasion of every impression on the soul, 
 apply to it the principles of Physic, of Moral and of Dialec- 
 tic:" which is only another way of telling us to examine 
 the impression in every possible way. In another passage 
 (ill. 11) he says, "To the aids which have been mentioned 
 let this one still be added: make;<'or thyself a definition or 
 description of the object 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 tliyself its 
 p^roper name, and the names of the things of which it has 
 neen compounded, and into which it will be resolved." 
 .Such an examination implies a use of Dialectic, which An- 
 toninus accordingly employed as a means towards estab- 
 lishing his Physical, Theological and Ethical principles. 
 
 There are several expositions of the Physical, Theological, 
 and Ethical principles, which are contained in the work of 
 Antoninus; and more expositions than I have read. Eitter 
 (Geschichte der Philosophic, iv. 241) after explaining the 
 doctrines of Epictetus, treats very briefly and insufficiently 
 those of Antoninus* But he refers to a short essay, in 
 which the work is done better.* There is also an essay on 
 the Philosophical Principles of M. Aurelius Antoninus by 
 Ji M. Schultz, placed at the end of his German translation 
 of Antoninus (Schleswig, 1799). With the assistance ■ of 
 these two useful essays and his own diligent study a man 
 may form a sufficient notion of the principles of Antoninus; 
 ^ut.he will find it more difficult to expound them to others. 
 Jiesides the want of arrangement in the original and of con- 
 nection among the numerous paragraphs, the corruption of 
 the text, the obscurity of the language and the style, and 
 sometimes perhaps the confusion in. the writer's own ideas, 
 — besides all this there is occasionally an apparent contra- 
 diction in the emperor's thoughts, as if his principles were 
 sometimes unsettled, as if doubt sometimes clouded his 
 mind. A man who leads a life of tranquillity and reflection, 
 ^yho is not disturbed at home and meddles not with the 
 affairs of the world, may keep his mind at ease and his 
 thoughts in one even course. But such a man has not been 
 tried. All his Ethical philosophy and his passive virtue 
 might turn out to be idle words, if he were once exposed to 
 the rude realities of human existence. Eine thoughts and 
 
 * De Marco Aurelio Antoninus ... ex opsius Commentariis. 
 Scriptio Philologica. Instituit Nicolaus Bachius, Lipsiae, 1826. 
 
22 TRE PHILOSOPB 
 
 moral dissertations from men who have not worked and stt 
 fered may be lead, but they will be forgotten. No 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 
 affects) but in activity lie the evil and the good of the ra- 
 tional social animal, just as his virtue and his vice lie not 
 in passivity, but in activity " (xi. 16). The emperor Anto- 
 ninus was a practical moralist. From his youth he followM 
 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 philosopher. Epictetus wanted 
 Httle, and it seems that he always had the little that he 
 wanted; and he was content with it, as he had been wilh 
 his servile station. But Antoninus after his accession to 
 the empire sat on an uneasy seat. He had the administra- 
 tion of an empire which extended from the Euphrates to the 
 /Atlantic, from the cold mountains of Scotland to the hot 
 jands of Africa; and we 'uay 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. 
 
 In the midst of war, pestilence, conspiracy, general cor- 
 ruption and with the weight of soiinweildy 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 f roia 
 their depression by recurring to first principles, as Antoni- 
 nus 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 em- 
 peror'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 prin- 
 ciple that the universe is wisely ordered, that every man is 
 a part of it and must conform to that order which he can- 
 not 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 uot doing anything; aud Iw* 
 
OF AH^TONINUS. 23 
 
 sides, accepting all that happens and all that is allotted as 
 coming from tlience, wherever it is, from wlience he himself 
 came; and finally waiting for death with a cheerful mind as 
 being nothing else than a dissolution of the elements, of 
 wliich every living being is compounded. But if there is no 
 Itarm to the elements themselves in each continually chang- 
 ing into another, why should a man have any apprehension 
 a,bout the change and dissolution of all the elements [him- 
 self] ? 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 
 roan's nature to both. He names the universe "the uni- 
 ^wrsal substance," and he adds that " reason," governs tha 
 mtiverse. He also (vi. 9) uses the terms " universal nature" 
 or " nature of the universe." He ( vr. 25) calls the universe 
 *' the one and all, which we name Cosmus or Order." 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 stili 
 cm other occasions plainly distinguishes between Matter;,, 
 Material things and Cause, Origin, Eeason.* This is con- 
 torinable to Zeno's doctrine that there are two original prin- 
 ciples of all things, that which acts and that which is acted 
 upon. That which is acted on is the formless matter ; that 
 which acts is the reason in it, God, for he is eternal and op- 
 erates through all matter, and produces all things. So 
 Antoninus (v. 32) speaks of the reason which pervades all 
 substance, and through all time by fixed periods (revolu> 
 tions) adnunisters the universe. God is eternal, and Matter 
 Is eternal. It is God who gives to matter its form, but Hft 
 13 not said to have created matter. According to this vieWj 
 which is as old as Anaxagoras, God and matter exist inde. 
 pendently, 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 
 insoluble question of the origin and nature of matter.t Au- 
 
 * I remark, in order to anticipate any misapprehension, that all 
 these general terms involve a contradiction. Tiie " one and all," 
 and the like, and " the whole," imply limitation. " One" is lim- 
 ited; " all " is limited ; the " whole " Ls 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 meud the matter. Even God is used by most people, 
 often uncouscioosly, in such a way that limitation is implied, and 
 yet at the same time words are added which are intended to deny 
 liiuitatiou. A Christian martyr, when he was asked what God 
 w;i8, is said to have answered that God has no name like a man ; 
 and Justin says the same (Apol. ii. 6). We can conceive the ex- 
 istence of a thing, or rather we may have the idea of an existence, 
 without an adequate notion of it. "adequate" meaning coexten- 
 Bive and coequal with the thing. We nave a notion of Umited 
 »pace derived from the dimensions of what we call a material 
 thing, though of space absolute, if I may use the term, we have no 
 uotion at all; and yet we conceive it in a sense, though I know 
 not how, and we beheve that space is infinite, and we cannot con- 
 ceive it to be finite. 
 
 t The notions of matter and of space are inseparable. We de- 
 xive the aotioa gf sj)ftce Uom matter a»d form. Bui we have m 
 
'24 THE PHiLosopnr 
 
 toninus 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 pas- 
 sage, (vii. 75, and the note.) 
 
 Matter consists of elemental parts of which all material 
 objects are made. But nothing is permanent inform. The 
 nature of the universe, according to Antoninus' expression 
 (iv. 36), "loves nothing so much as to change the things 
 which are, and to make new things like them. For every- 
 thing that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will 
 be. But thou art thinking only of seeds which are cast into 
 the earth or into a womb: but this is a very vulgar notion." 
 All things then are in a constant flux and change : some 
 things are dissolved into the elements, others come in their 
 places; and so the " whole universe continues ever young 
 and perfect." (xir. 23.) 
 
 Antoninus has some obscure expressions about what he 
 calls " seminaJ principles." He opposes them to the Epi- 
 curean atoms (vi. 24), and consequently his "seminal prin- 
 ciples" are not material atoms which wander about at haz- 
 ard, and combine nobody knows how. In one passage (iv. 
 21) he speaks of living principles, souls after the dissolution 
 of their bodies being received into the " seminal principle of 
 the universe." Schultz thinks that by "seminal principles 
 Antoninus means the relations of the various elemental 
 principles, which relations are determined by the Deity and 
 by which alone the production of organized beings is pos- 
 sible." This may be the meaning, but if it is, nothing of any 
 value can be derived from it.* Antoninus often uses tlie 
 word " Nature," and we must attempt to fix its meaning. 
 The simple etymological sense of <pij(nsis " production," the 
 birth of what we call Things. The Komans used Natura, 
 which also means " birth " originally. But neither the 
 Greeks nor the Romans stuck to this simple meaning, nor 
 do we. Antoninus says (x. 6): "Whether the universe is 
 [a concourse of] atoms or Nature [is a system], let this first 
 be established that I am a part of the whole which is gov- 
 erned by nature." Here it might seem as if nature were 
 personified and viewed as an active, efficient power, as some- 
 thing which, if not independent of the Deity, acts by a 
 
 adequate conception either of matter or of space- Matterin its 
 ultimate resolution is as unintelligible as what men call miud, 
 spirit, or by whatever other name they may express the power 
 which makes itself known by its acts. Anaxagoras laid down 
 the distinction between intelligence and matter, and he said tlmt 
 iutelligeuce impressed motion on matter and so separated the ele 
 ments of matter and gave them order; but he probably only pp- 
 sumed a beginning, as SimpUcius says, as a foundation of lii;. 
 philosophical teaching. . 
 
 The common Greek word which we translate " matter "is SXr/. 
 It is the stuff that things are made of. 
 
 * Justin (Apol. n. 8.) has the expression Karci (nrep/xariKod Myov 
 ^e^os, where he is speaking of the Stoics. The early Christian 
 writers were familiar with the Stoic terms, and their writings 
 show that the contest was begun between the Christian expositors 
 and the Greek philosophy. Even in the second Epistle of St. 
 Peter (u. 1, v. 4) we find a Stoic expressiou^trajSwi To(rrwvy4vr]<Td« 
 Selas Kotvuvoi ipiiaeust 
 
OF ANT02nii US. . 25 
 
 power which is given to It by the Deity. Such, if I under- 
 stand the expression right, is the way in which the word 
 Nature is often used now, tliough it is plain that many 
 writers use the word without fixing any exact meaning to it. 
 It is the same with the expression Laws of Nature, wliich 
 some writers may use in an intelligible sense, but otliers as 
 clearly use in no definite sense at all. There is no meaning 
 in this word nature, except that which Bishop Butler as- 
 signs to it, when he says, "The only distinct meaning of 
 hat word Natural is Stated, Fixed or Settled ; since what is 
 1. "ural as much requires and presupposes an intelligent 
 ag ^t to render it so, i. e. to effect it continually or at stated 
 tim ■, as what is supernatural or miraculous does to effect 
 it at mce." This is Plato's meaning (De Leg. iv.), when 
 he says, tbat God holds the beginning and end and middle of 
 all that exists, and proceeds straight on his course, making 
 his circuit according to nature (that is, by a fixed order) ; 
 and he is continually accompanied by justice who punishes 
 those who deviate from the divine law, that is, from the 
 order or course which God observes. 
 
 When we look at the motions of the planets, the action 
 of what we call gravitation, the elemental combination of 
 unorganized bodies and their resolution, the production of 
 plants and of living bodies, their generation, growth, and 
 their dissolution, which we call their death, we observe a 
 regular sequence of phenomena, which within the limits of ^ 
 experience present and past, so far as we know the past, is' 
 fixed and invariable. But if this is not so, if the order and 
 sequence of phenomena, as known to us, are subject to 
 change in the course of an infinite progression, — and such . 
 change is conceivable, — we have not discovered, nor shall we 
 ever discover, the whole of the order and sequence of phe- 
 nomena, in wliich sequence there may be involved according 
 to its very nature, that is, according to its fixed order, some 
 variation of what we now call the Order or Nature of 
 Things. It is also conceivable that such changes have 
 taken place, changes in the order of things, as we are com- 
 pelled by the imperfection of language to call them, but 
 which are no clianges; and further it is certain, that our 
 knowledge of the true sequence of all actual phenonuena, 
 as for instance, the phenomena of generation, growth and 
 dissolution, is and ever must be imperfect. 
 
 We do not fare much better when we speak of Causes 
 and Effects than when we speak of Nature. For the prac- 
 tical purposes of life we may use the terms cause and effect 
 conveniently, and we may fix a distinct meaning to them, 
 distinct enough at least to prevent all misunderstanding. But 
 the case is different when we speak of causes and effects as 
 of things. All that we know is phenomena, as the Greeks 
 ealled them, or appearances which follow one another in a 
 regular order, as we conceive it, so that if some one phe- 
 nomenon should fail in the series, we conceive that there 
 must either be an interruption of the series, or that some- 
 thing else will appear after the phenomenon which has 
 tailed to appear, and will occupy the vacant place; and so 
 the series in its progression may be modified or totally 
 changed. Cause and effect then mean nothing in the se- 
 
26 TSE fBlLOSOPHY 
 
 c[uence of natural phenomena beyond what I have Said; 
 and the real cause, or the transcendent cause, as some 
 would call it, of each successive phenomenon is in that 
 which is the cause of all things which are, which have 
 been, and which will be forever. Thus the word Crea- 
 tion may have a real sense if we consider it as the first, if we 
 can conceive a first, in the present order of natural phe- 
 nomena; but in the vulgar sense a creation of all things at a 
 certain time, followed by a quiescence of the first cause and 
 an abandonment of all sequences of Phenomena to the 
 Laws of Nature, or to any other words that people may use, 
 is absolutely absurd.* 
 
 Now, though there Is great difiiculty in understanding all 
 the passages of Antoninus, in which he speaks of nature, of 
 the changes of things and of the economy of the universe, I 
 am convinced that his sense of Nature and Natural is the 
 same as that which I have stated ; and as he was a man who 
 knew how to use words in a clear way and with strict con- 
 sistency, we ought to assume, even if his meaning in some 
 passages is doubtful, that his view of Nature was in har- 
 mony with his fixed belief in the all-pervading, ever-present, 
 and ever-active energy of God. (iv. 40; x. 1; vi. 40; and 
 other passages.) 
 
 There is much in Antoninus that is hard to understand, 
 and it might be said that he did not fully comprehend all 
 that he wrote; which would however be in no way remark- 
 able, for it happens now that a man may write what neither 
 he nor anybody can understand. Antoninus tells us 
 {xii. 10) to look at things and see what they are, resolving 
 them into the material, the casual and the relation, or the 
 purpose, by which he seems to mean something in the 
 nature of what we call effect, or end. The word cause 
 ( cUrla ) is the difficulty. There is the same word in the 
 Sanscrit {A (tt); and the subtle philosophers of India and of 
 Greece, and the less subtle philosophers of modem times 
 have all used this word, or an equivalent word, in a vague 
 way. Yet the confusion sometimes may be in the iiiiVJ- 
 table ambiguity of language rather than in the mind of the 
 WTiter, for I cannot think that some of the wisest of men 
 did not know what they intended to say. When Antoninus 
 says (iv. 36), " that everything that exists is in a manner 
 the seed of that which will be," he might be supposed to 
 say what some of the Indian philosophers have said, and 
 thus a profound truth might be converted into a gross ab- 
 
 * Time and space are the conditions of our thougnt ; but time 
 infinite and space infinite cannot be objects of thought, except in 
 a very imperfect way. Time and space must not in any way be 
 thonght of, when we think of the Deity. Swedenborg sayj?, 
 " The natural man may believe that he would have no thought, if 
 the idea of time, of space, and of tilings material were taken 
 away ; for upon those is founded all the thought that man has. 
 But let him know that the thoughts are limited and confined in 
 proportion as they partake of time, of space, and of what is roa- 
 terial; and that they are not limited and are extended, in propor- 
 tion as they do not partake of those things ; since tlie mind is so 
 far elevated above the things corporeal aud woildly." (Conceru- 
 ing Heaven and Hell, 169.) 
 
OF ANTONINUS 27 
 
 BOrdity. But he says, " in a manner," and in a manner lie 
 said true; and in anotiier manner, if you mistake his mean- 
 ing, he said false. Wlien Plato said, " Nothing ever is, but 
 is always becoming," he delivered a text, out of which we 
 may derive something; for he destroys by it not all practi- 
 cal, but all speculative notions of cause and effect. The 
 whole series of things, as they appear to us, must be con- 
 templated in time, that is in succession, and we conceive or 
 suppose intervals between one state of things, and another 
 state of tilings, so that there is priority and sequence, and in-- 
 terval, and Being, and a ceasing to Be, and beginning and end- 
 ing. But there is nothing of the kind in the Nature of Things. 
 It is an everlasting continuity, (iv. 45 ; vil. 75.) When An« 
 toninud speaks of generation (x. 26), he speaks of one cause 
 acting, and then another cause taking up the work, which 
 the former left in a certain state, and so on; and we inight 
 perhaps conceive that he had some notion like wliat has 
 been called "the self-evolving power of nature"; a fine 
 phrase indeed, the full import of which I believe that the 
 writer of it did not see, and thus he laid himself open to 
 the imputation of being a follower of one of the Hindii 
 sects, which makes all things come by evolution out of 
 nature or matter, or out of something which takes the 
 place of deity, but is not deity. I would have all men 
 think as they please or as they can, and I only claim the 
 same freedom, which I give. When a man writes any- 
 thing, we may fairly try to find out all that his words must 
 mean, even if the result is that they mean what he did not 
 mean ; and if we find this contradiction, it is not onr fault, 
 but his misfortune. Now Antoninus is perhaps somewhat 
 in this condition in what he says (x. 26.), though he speaks 
 at the end of the paragraph of the power which acts, unseeii 
 by the eyes, but still no less clearly. But whether in this 
 passage (x. 26) he means. that the power is conceived to be 
 in the different successive causes, or in something else, no- 
 body can tell. From other passages, however, I do collect 
 that his notion of the phenomena of the univeise is what 
 I have stated. The deity works unseen, if we may use 
 sucli language, and perhaps I may, as Job did, or he who 
 wrote the book of Job. " In him we live and move and 
 are," said St. Paul to the Athenians, and to show his hear- 
 ers that this was no new doctrine, he quoted the Greek 
 poets. One of these poets was the Stoic Cleanthes whose 
 noble hymn to Zeus or God is an elevated expression of 
 devotion and philosophy. It deprives Nature of her power 
 and puts her under the immediate government of the deity. 
 
 " Thee all this heaven, which whirls around the earth, 
 Obeys and willing lollows where thou leadest. — 
 Without thee, God, nothing is done on earth, 
 Nor in the sethereal realms, nor in the sea. 
 Save what the wicked do through their own folly." 
 
 Antoninus' conviction of the existence of a divine power 
 l^d government was founded on his perception of the order 
 of the universe. Like Socrates (Xen. Mem. iv. 3), he say* 
 though we cannot see the forms of divine powers, we know, 
 (bftt they exist because we see their works. 
 
28 THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 " To those who ask, Where hast thou seen the gods, or 
 how dost thou comprehend that they exist and so worshipest 
 them ? I answer, in the first place, that they may be seen 
 even with the eyes; in the second place, neither have I seen 
 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." 
 (xii. 28. Comp. Xen. Mem. 1. 4, 9; St. Paul's Epistle to the 
 Romans, i. 19, 20; and Montaigne's Apology for Eaimond 
 de Sebonde, il. c. 12.) This is a very old argument which 
 has always had great weight with most people and has ap- 
 peared sufficient. It does not acquire the least additional 
 strength by being developed in a learned treatise. It is as' 
 intelligible in its simple enunciation as it can be mad' If 
 it is rejected, there is no arguing with him who rejet it; 
 and if it is worked out into innumerable particulars, ^e 
 value of the evidence runs the risk of being buried und-. 
 mass of words. 
 
 Man being conscious that he is a spiritual power or an in-^. 
 tellectual power, or that he has such a power, in whatever 
 way he conceives that he has it — for I wish simply to state 
 a fact — from this power which he has in himself, he is led, 
 as Antoninus says, to believe that there is a greater power,- 
 which as the old Stoics tell us, pervades the whole universe: 
 as the intellect * ( vov$ ) pervades man. (Compare Epicte-; 
 
 * I have always translated the word "oSs " intelligence 
 or " intellect." It appears to be the word used by the oldest: 
 Greek philosophers to express the notion of " intelligence " as ' 
 oposed to the notiou of " matter." I have always translated; 
 the word \&yos by "reason," and "KoyiKds by the word " ra-; 
 tional," or perhaps sometimes " reasonable," as I have translated ' 
 voepSi by the word " intellectual." Everyman who has thought 
 and has read any philosophical writings knows the difficulty of 
 finding words to express certain notions, how imperfectly words- 
 express these notions, and how carelessly the words are often- 
 used. The various seuses of the word \6y6s are enough to per- 
 plex any man. Our translators of the New Testament (St. John,: 
 c I.) have simply translated 6 \6yos by " the word," as the Ger- 
 mans translatedit by "das Wort; " but in their theological writ- 
 ings they sometimes retiun the original term Logos. The Ger- 
 mans have a term Vernunft, which seems to come nearest to our 
 word Reason, or the necessary and absolute truths which we can-, 
 not conceive as being other than what they are. Such are what 
 some people have called the laws of thought, the conceptions of 
 space and of time, and axioms or first principles, which need no 
 proof and cannot be proved or denied. Accordingly the Germans 
 can say " Gott istdie hochste Vernunft," the Supreme Reason. 
 The Germans have also a word Verstand, which seems to repr 
 resent our word "understanding," ''intelligence," "intellect,''^ 
 not as a thing absolute which exists by itself, but as a thing con 
 nected with an individual being, as a man. Accordingly it is the 
 capacity of receiving impressions (Vorstellungen, ■^avraffiou. ), 
 and forming from them distinct ideas, (Begriffe), and perceiving 
 differences. I do not think that these remarks will help the 
 reader to the understanding of Antoninus, or his use of the words 
 vbn$ and \6-)os. The Emperor's meaning must be got from his 
 pwn words, and if it does not agree altogether with modern no- 
 tions, it is not our business to force it into agreement, but simply 
 to find out what his meaning is, if we can, . .^ ,, 
 
OF ANTONINUS. 29 
 
 tus* Discourses, I. 14; and Voltaire i Madame Neckcr, vol. 
 Lxvii. p. 278.) 
 
 God exists then, but what do we know of his Nature ? An- 
 toninus says that the soul of man is an efflux from the 
 divinity. We have bodies like animals, but we have reason, 
 intelligence as the gods. Animals have life and what we 
 call instincts or natural principles of action; but the rational 
 animal man alone has a rational, intelligent soul. An- 
 toninus insists on this continually ; God is in man, * and so 
 we must constantly attend to the divinity within us, for it 
 is only in this way that we can have any knowledge of the 
 nature of God. The human soul is in a sense a portion of 
 the divinity, and the soul alone has any communication 
 with the Deity, for as he says (xii. 2): "With his intel- 
 lectual part alone God touches the intelligence only which 
 has flowed and been derived from himself into these bodies." 
 In fact he says that which is hidden within a man is life, 
 that is the man himself. All the rest is vesture, covering, 
 organs, instrument, which the living man, the real t man, 
 uses for the purposes of his present existence. The air is 
 universally diffused for hira who is able to respire, and so 
 for him who is willing to partake of it the intelligent power 
 which holds within it all things is diffused as wide and free 
 as the air. (viii. 54. ) It is by living a divine life that man 
 approaches to a knowledge of the divinity .J It is by 
 
 • Comp. Ep. to the Corinthians, I. 3. 17. 
 
 t This is also Swedenborg's doctrine of the soul. " As to what 
 concerns the soul, of which it is said that it shall live after death. 
 It is nothing else but the man himself, who lives in the body, that 
 Isi the interior man, who by the body acts in the world and from 
 whom the body itself lives " (qaoted by CHssold . p. 456 of " The 
 Practical Nature of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Sweden- 
 borg, in a letter to the Archbishop of Dublin," second edition, 
 1859; a book which theologians might read with profit). This is 
 an old doctrine of the soul, which has been often proclaimed, but 
 never better expressed than by the " Auctor de Mundo." c. 6, 
 quoted by Gataker in his " Antoninus," p. 436. "The soul by 
 which we live and have cities and houses is invisible, but it is 
 Been by its works; for the whole method of life has been devised 
 by it and ordered, and by it is held together. In like manner we 
 must think also about the Deity who in power is most mighty, 
 iu beauty must comely, in life immortal, and in virtue supreme: 
 wherefore though he is i^^visible to human nature, he is seen by 
 his very works." Other passages to the same purpose are quoted 
 by Gataker, (p. 382.) Bishop Butler has the same as to the soul: 
 " Upon the whole then our organs of sense and our limbs are cer- 
 tainly instruments, which the living persons, ourselves, make use 
 of to perceive and move with." If this is not plain enough, he 
 also says : " It follows that our organized bodies are no more our- 
 selves, a part of ourselves, than any other matter around us." 
 (Compare Anton, x. 38.) 
 
 t The reader may consult Discourse V. '' Of the existence and 
 nature of God," in John Smith's " Select Discourses." He has 
 prefixed as a text to this Discourse, the striking passage of 
 Agapetus, Paraenes- § 3 : " He who knows himself will know God ; 
 and he who knows God will be made like to God; and he will be 
 made like to God, who has become worthy of God ; and he becomes 
 worthy of God, who does nothing unworthy of God, but thinks 
 the things that are his, and speaks what he thinks, and does what 
 
so THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 following the divinity within, that man comes nearest to the 
 Deity, the supreme good, for man can never attain to per- 
 fect agreeE:ient with his internal guide. " Live with the 
 gods. And he does live witli \;he gods who constantly 
 shows to them that his own soul is satisfied with that which 
 is assigned to him, and that it does all the daemon wishes, 
 which Zeus hath given to every man for his guardian and 
 guide, a portion of himself. And this daemon is every man' s 
 understanding and reason." (v. 27.) 
 
 There is in man, that is in the reason, the intelligence, a 
 superior faculty which if it is exercised rules all the rest. 
 This is the ruling faculty which Cicero (DeNatura Deorum, 
 II. 11) renders by the Latin word Principatus, " to which 
 nothing can or ought to be superior." Antoninus often 
 uses this term, and others which are equivalent. He namea 
 it (vii. 64) " the governing intelligence." The governing 
 faculty is the master of the soul. (v. 26.) A man must rev- 
 erance only his ruling faculty and the divinity within him. 
 As we must reverence that which is supreme in the universe, 
 so we must reverence that which is supreme in ourselves, and 
 this is that which is of like kind with that which is supreme 
 in the universe, (v. 21.) So, as Plotiuus says, the soul of 
 man can only know the divine, so far as it knows itself. In 
 one passage (xi. 19) Antoninus speaks of a man's condem- 
 nation of himself, when the diviner part within him has 
 been overpowered and yields to the less honorable and to the 
 perishable part, the body, and its gross pleasures. In a 
 word, the views of Antoninus on this matter, however his 
 expressions may vary, are exactly what Bishop Butler ex- 
 presses, when he speaks of " the natural supremacy of re- 
 flection or conscience," of the faculty "which surveys, ap- 
 proves or disapproves the several affections of our mind and 
 actions of our lives." 
 
 Much matter might be collected from Antoninus on the- 
 notion of the Universe being one animated Being. But all 
 that he says amounts to no more, as Schultz remarks, than 
 this: the soul of man is most intimately united to his body 
 and together they make one animal, which we call man; so 
 the Deity is most intimately united to the world or the 
 material universe, and together they form one whole. But 
 Antoninus did not view God and the material universe as 
 the same, any more than he viewed the body and soul of 
 man as one. Antoninus has no speculations on the absolute 
 nature of the Deity. It was not his fashion to waste his 
 time on what man cannot understand. He wus satisfied 
 that God exists, that he governs all things, that man can 
 only have an imperfect knowledge of his nature, and he 
 must attain this imperfect knowledge by reverencing the 
 divinity which is within him, and keeping it pure. 
 
 From all that has been said it follows that the imiverse is 
 administered by the Providence of God and that all things 
 are wisely ordered. There are passages in which Antoninus 
 expresses doubts, or states different possible theories of the. 
 
 he speaks." I suppose that the old saying, " Know thyself/' 
 which is attributed to Socrates and others, had a larger meaning 
 than the narrow sense which is generally given to it. - 
 
OF ANTOmNVS. 31 
 
 constitution and government of tlie Universe, but he always 
 recurs to his fundamental principle, that if we admit th« 
 existence of a Deity, we must also admit that he orders all 
 things wisely and well. (iv. 27; Vi. 1; ix. 28; xii. 5, and 
 many other passages.) Epictetus says (1. 6) that we can 
 discern the providence which rules the world, if we possess 
 two things, the power of seeing all that happens with respect 
 to each thing, and a grateful disposition. 
 
 But if all things are wisely ordered, how is the world so 
 fall of what we call evil, physical and moral ? If instead 
 of saying that there is evil in the world, we use the expres- 
 sion which Ihave used, " what we call evil," wehave partly 
 anticipated the Emperor's answer. We see and feci and 
 know imperfectly very few things in the few jears that we 
 live, and all the knowledge and all the experience of all 
 the human race is positive ignorance of the T7hole, which 
 is infinite. Now as our reason teaches us that everything is 
 in some way related to and connected w ith every other thing 
 all notion of evil as being in the universe of things is a con- 
 tradiction, for if the whole comes from and is governed by 
 an intelligent being, it is impossible to conceive anything in 
 it which tends to the evil or destruction, of the vhole. (viii. 
 55; X. 6.) Everything is in constant mu^atior , and yet the 
 whole subsists. We might imagine the solar system re- 
 solved into its elemental parts, and yet the 'Thole would still 
 subsist "ever young and perfect." 
 
 All things, all forms, are dissolved and new forms appear. 
 All living things imdergo the change Which we call death. 
 If we call death an evil, then all change is an avil. Living 
 beings also suffer pain, and man suffers most oi all, for he 
 suffers both in and by his body and by his intelligent part. 
 Men suffer also from one another^ and perhai)s the largest 
 part of human suffering comes to man from th ")se whom he 
 calls his brothers. Antoninus says (viii. 55), "Generally, 
 wickedness does no harm at all to the universe; and partic- 
 ularly, the wickedness (of one man) does no harm to an- 
 other. It is only harmful to him who has it n his power 
 to be released from it, as soon as he shall choose." The 
 first part of this is perfectly consistent with the doctrine 
 that the whole can sustain no evil or harm. The second 
 part must be explained by the Stoic principle Lhat there is 
 no evil in anything which is not in our power. What wrong 
 •we suffer from another is his evil, not ours. I ut this is an 
 admission that there is evil in a sort, for he wh' > does wrong 
 does evil, and if others can endure the wrong, still there is 
 evil in the wrongdoer. Antoninus (xi, 18) gnes many ex- 
 cellent precepts with respect to wrongs and : njuries, and 
 his precepts are practical. He teaches us to b ear what we 
 cannot avoid, and his lessons may be just as iseful to him 
 who denies the being and the government of G od as to him 
 who believes in both. There is no direct ans ver in Anto- 
 ninus to the objections which may be made to the existence 
 and providence of God because of the moral disorder and 
 suffering which are in the world, except this answer which 
 he makes in reply to the supposition that even the best men 
 may. be extinguished by death. He says if it is so, we may 
 be sure that if it ought to have beea otherwise, the godi 
 
82 Tim pmLosopiiT 
 
 would have ordered it otherwise, (xii. 5.) His conviction 
 of the wisdom which we may observe in the government of 
 the world is too strong to be disturbed by any apparent 
 irregularities in the order of things. That these disorders 
 exist is a fact, and those who would conclude from them 
 against the being and government of God conclude too 
 hastily. We all admit that there is an order in the material 
 world, a Nature, in the sense in which that word has been 
 explained, a constitution (KaraffKevfi, ) what we call a sys- 
 tem, a relation of parts to one another and a fitness of the 
 whole for something. So in the constitution of plants and of 
 animals there is an order, a fitness for some end. Some- 
 times the order , as we conceive it, is interrupted and the 
 end, as we conceive it, is not attained. The seed, the plant 
 or the animal sometimes perishes before it has passed 
 through all its changes and done all its uses. It is accord- 
 ing to Nature, that is a fixed order, for some to perish early 
 and for others to do all their uses and leave successors to 
 take their place. So man has a corporeal and intellectual 
 and moral constitution fit for certain uses, and on the whole 
 man performs the uses, dies and leaves other men in his 
 place. So society exists, and a social state is manifestly 
 the Natural State of man, the state for which his Nature 
 fits him; and society amidst innumerable irregularities and 
 disorders still subsists ; and perhaps we may say that the 
 history of the past and our present knowledge give us a rea- 
 sonable hope that its disorders will diminish, and that 
 order, its governing principle, may be more firmly estab- 
 lished. As order then, a fixed order, we may say, subject to 
 deviations real or apparent, must be admitted to exist in the 
 whole Nature of things, that which we call disorder or evil 
 as it seems to us, does not in any way alter the fact of 
 the general constitution of things having a Nature or 
 fixed order. Nobody will conclude from the existence of 
 disorder that order is not the rule, for the existence of 
 order both physical and moral is proved by daily experience 
 and all past experience. We cannot conceive how the 
 order of the universe is maintained i we cannot even con- 
 ceive how our own life from day to day is continued, nor 
 how we perform the simplest movements of the body, nor 
 how we grow and think and act, though we know many of 
 the conditions which are necessary for all these functions. 
 Knowing nothing then of the unseen power which acts in 
 ourselves except by what is done, we know nothing of the 
 power which acts through what we call all time and all 
 space ; but seeing that there is a Nature or fixed order in 
 all things known to us, it is conformable to the nature of 
 our minds to believe that this universal Nature has a cause 
 which operates continually, and that we are totally unable 
 to speculate on the reason of any of those disorders or evils 
 which we perceive. This I believe is the answer which may 
 be collected from all that Antoninus has said.* 
 
 * Cleanthes says in his Hymn: 
 
 " For all things good and bad to One thou formest 
 ©o that One everlasting reason governs all." , 
 
OF ANTONINUS. 83 
 
 The origm of evil is an old question. Achilles tells 
 Priam (Iliad, 24, 527) that Zeus has two casks, one filled 
 with good things, and the other with bad, and that he gives 
 to men out of each according to his pleasure ; and so we 
 must be content, for we cannot alter the will of Zeus. One 
 of the Greek commentators asks how must we reconcile 
 this doctrine with what we find in the first book of the 
 Odyssey, where the king of the gods says, Men say that evil 
 comes to them from us, but they bring it on themselves 
 through their own folly. The answer is plain enough even 
 to the Greek commentator. The poets make both Achilles 
 and Zeus speak appropriately to their several characters. 
 Indeed Zeus says plainly that men do attribute their suffer- 
 ings to the gods, but they do it falsely, for they are the 
 cause of their own sorrows. 
 
 Epictetus in his Enchiridion (c. 21) makes short work of 
 the question of evil. He says, 'As a mark is not set up 
 for the purpose of missing it, so neither does the nature of 
 evil exist in the Universe." This will appear obscure 
 enough to those who are not acquainted with Epictetus, but 
 he always knows what he is talking about. We do not set 
 up a mark in order to miss it, though we may miss it. God, 
 whose existence Epictetus assumes, has not ordered all 
 things so that his purpose shall fail. Whatever there may 
 be of what we call evil, the nature of evil as he expresses 
 it, does not exist; that is, evil is not a part of the constitu- 
 tion or nature of Things. If there were a principle of evil 
 in the constitution of things, evil would no longer be evil, 
 as Simplicius argues, but evil would be good. Simplicius 
 (c. 34, [27]) has a long and curious discourse on this text 
 of Epictetus, and it is amusing and instructive. 
 
 One passage more will conclude this matter. It contains 
 all that the emperor could say (ii. 11) : " To go from among 
 men, if there are gods, is not a thing to be afraid of, for the 
 gods will not involve thee in evil ; but if indeed they do not 
 exist, or if they have no concern about human affairs, what 
 is it to me to live in a universe devoid of gods or devoid of 
 providence ? But in truth they do exist, and they do care 
 for human things, and they have put all the means in man's 
 power to enable him not to fall into real evils. And as to 
 the rest, if there was anything evil, they would have pro- 
 vided for this also, that it should be altogether in a man's 
 power not to fall into it. But that which does not make a 
 man worse, how can it make a man's life worse ? But 
 neither through ignorance, nor having the knowledge, but 
 not the power to guard against or correct these things, is 
 it possible 'that the nature of the Universe has overlooked 
 them ; nor is it possible that it has made so great a mistake, 
 either through want of power or want of skill, that good 
 and evil should happen indiscriminately to the good and 
 the bad. But death certainly and life, honor and dishonor, 
 pain and pleasure, all these things equally happen to good 
 and bad men, being things which make us neither better 
 nor worse. Therefore they are neither good nor evil." 
 
 The Ethical part of Antoninus' Philosophy follows from 
 his general principles. The end of all his philosophy is to 
 live conformably to Nature, both a man's.own nat ure. aod 
 
M THE PHILOSOPMT 
 
 the nature of the Universe. Bishop Butler has explained 
 what the Greek philosophers meant when they spoke of liv- 
 ing according to oSTature, and he says that when it is ex- 
 plained, as he has explained it and as they understood it, it 
 is "a manner of speaking not loose and undeterminate, but 
 clear and distinct, strictly just and true." To live according 
 to ISTature is to live according to a man's whole nature, not 
 according to a part of it, and to reverence the divinity within 
 him as the governor of all his actions. "To the rational 
 animal the same act is according to nature and according to 
 reason." * (vii. 11.) That which is done contrary to 
 reason is also an act contrary to nature, to the whole nature, 
 though it is certainly conformable to some part of man's 
 nature, or it could not be done. Man is made for action, not 
 for idleness or pleasure. As plants and animals do the uses 
 of their nature, so man must do his. (v. 1.) 
 
 Man must also live conformably to the universal nature, 
 conformably to the nature of all things of which he is one; 
 and as a citizen of a political community he must direct his 
 life and actions with reference to those among whom, and 
 for whom, among other purposes, he lives. A man must 
 not retire into solitude and cut himself off from his fellow 
 men. He must be ever active to do his part in the great 
 whole. All men are his kin, not only in blood, but still more 
 by participating in the same intelligence and by being a por- 
 tion of the same divinity. A man cannot really be injured 
 by his brethren, for no act of theirs can make him bad, and 
 he must not be angry with them nor hate them: " For we 
 are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, 
 like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one 
 another tlieu is contrary to nature ; and it is acting against 
 one another to be vexed and to turn away." (ii. 1.) 
 
 Further he says : " Take pleasure in one thing and rest in 
 it in passing from one social act to another social act, think- 
 ing of God." (vi. 7.) Again: " Love mankind. Follow 
 God." (VII. .31.) It is the characteristic of a rational soul 
 for a man to love his neighbor, (xi. 1.) Antoninus teaches 
 in various passages the forgiveness of injuries, and we know 
 that he also practised what he taught. Bishop Butler re- 
 marks that " this divine precept to forgive injuries and to 
 love our enemies, though to be met with in Gentile moral- 
 ists, yet is in a peculiar sense a precept of Christianity, as 
 our Saviour has insisted more upon it than on any other 
 single virtue." The practice of this precept is the most diffi- 
 cult of all virtues. Antoninus often enforces it and gives us 
 aid towards following it= When we are injured, we feel 
 anger and resentment, and the feeling is natural, just and 
 useful for the conservation of society. It is useful that 
 wrong-doers should feel the natural consequences of their 
 actions, among which is the disapprobation of society and 
 the resentment of him who is wronged. But revenge in the 
 proper sense of that word, must not be practised. "The 
 best way of avenging thyself," says the emperor, "is not 
 to become like the wrong-doer." It is plain by this that he 
 does not mean that we should in any case practise revenge; 
 
 * Tliis is what Juvenal means when he says (xiv. 321) — • 
 Nunquam aliud Natura aliud Sapeutia dicit. 
 
OF ANTONINUS. dO 
 
 but lie says to those who talk of revenging Avrongs, Be not 
 like him who has done the wrong. Socrates in the Crito 
 (c. 10) says the same in other words, and Ht. Paul (Ep. to 
 the Romans, xil. 17.) "When a man has done thee any 
 wrong, immediately consider with what opinion about goou 
 or evil he has done wrong, for when thou hast seen this, 
 thou wilt pity him and wilt neither wonder nor be angry." 
 (vii. 26.) Antoninus would not deny that wrong naturally 
 produces the feeling of anger and resentment, for this is im- 
 plied in the recommendation to reflect on the nature of the 
 man's mind who has done the wrong, and then you will 
 have pity instead of resentment: and so it comes to the same 
 as St. Paul's advice to be angry and sin not; which, as 
 Butler well explains it, is not a recommendation to be angry, 
 wl'ich nobody needs, for anger is a natural passion, but it 
 is a warning against allowing anger to lead us into sin. In 
 short the emperor's doctrine about wrongful acts is this; 
 wrong doers do not know what good and bad are: they of- 
 fend out of ignorance, and in tlie sense of the Stoics this is 
 true. Though this kind of ignorance will never be ad- 
 mitted as a legal excuse, and ought not to be admitted as a 
 full excuse in any way by society, there maybe grievous in- 
 juries, such as it is in a man's power to forgive without 
 harm to society; and if he forgives because he sees that his 
 enemies know not what they do, he is acting in the spirit of 
 the sublime prayer, ''Father, forgive them, for they know 
 aot what they do." 
 
 The emperor's moral philosophy was not a feeble, narrow 
 system, which teaches a man to look directly to his OM'n hap- 
 piness, though a man's happiness or tranquillity is indirectly 
 promoted by living as he ought to do. A man must live 
 conformably to the universal nature, which means, as the 
 emperor explains it in many passages, that a man's actions 
 must be conformable to his true relations to all other human 
 beings, both as a citizen of a political community and as a 
 member of the whole human family. This implies, and lie 
 often expresses it in the most forcible language, that a man's 
 words and actions, so far as they affect others, must be 
 measured by a fixed rule, which is tlieir con?astency with 
 the conservation and the interests of the particular society 
 of which he is a member, and of the whole human race. To 
 live conformably to such a rule, a man must use his rational 
 faculties in order to discern clearly the consequences and full 
 effect of all his actions and of the actions of others: he must 
 not live a life of contemplation and reflection only, though 
 he must often retire within himself to calm and purify his 
 snul by thought, but he must mingle in the work of man and 
 be a fellow laborer for the general good. 
 
 A man should have an object or purpose in life, that ho 
 may direct all his energies to it; of course a good object (il. 
 7.) He who has not one object or purpose of life, can- 
 not be one and the same all through his life. (xi= 21.) 
 Bacon has a remark to the same effect, on the best 
 means of " reducing of the mind unto virtue and good estate; 
 which is, the electing and propounding unto a man's self 
 good and virtuous ends of his life, such as may be in a 
 reasonable sort within his compass to attain." He is a 
 
36 THJE PIIILOSOPHT. 
 
 happy man who has been wise enough to do this when he 
 was young and has had the opportunities ; but the emperor 
 seeing well that a man cannot always be so wise in his 
 youth, encourages himself to do it when he can, and not to 
 let life slip away before he has begun. He who can pro- 
 pose to himself good and virtuous ends of life, and be true 
 to them, cannot fail to live conformably to his own interest 
 and the universal interest, for in the nature of things they 
 are one. If a thing is not good for the hive, it is not good 
 for the bee. (vi. 54. ) 
 
 One passage may end this matter, " If the gods have de- 
 termined about me and about the things which must happen 
 to me, they have determined well, for it is not easy even to 
 imagine a deity without forethought ; and as to doing me 
 harm, why should they have any desire towards that ? For 
 what advantage would result to them from this or to the 
 whole, which is the special object of their providence ? But 
 if they have not determined about me individually, they 
 have certainly determined about the whole at least; and the 
 things which happen by way of sequence in this general ar- 
 rangement I ought to accept with pleasure and to be content 
 with them. But if they determine about nothing — which it 
 is wicked to believe, or if we do believe it, let us neither sacri- 
 fice nor pray nor swear by them nor do anything else which 
 we do as if the gods were present and lived with us — but if 
 however the gods determine about none of the things which 
 concern us, lam able to determine about myself, and I can 
 inquire about that which is useful; and that is useful to 
 every man which is conformable to his own constitution 
 ( jcttTtwjceui}. ) and nature. But my nature is rational and 
 social ; and my city and country, so far as I am Antoninus, 
 is Rome ; but so far as I am a man, it is the world. The 
 things then which are useful to these cities are alone useful 
 to me." (vi. 44.) 
 
 It would be tedious, and it is not necessary to state the 
 emperor's opinions on all the ways in which a man may prof- 
 itably use his understanding towards perfecting himself in 
 practical virtue. The passages to this purpose are in all 
 parts of his book, but as they are in no order or connection, 
 a man must use the book a long time before he will find out 
 all that is in it. A few words may be added here. If we 
 analyze all other things, we find how insuflBcient they are 
 for human life, and how truly worthless many of them are. 
 Virtue alone is indivisible, one, and perfectly satisfying. 
 The notion of Virtue cannot be considered vague or un- 
 settled, because a man may find it difficult to explain the 
 notion fully to himself or to expound it to others in such a 
 way as to prevent cavilling. Virtue is a whole, and no more 
 consists of parts than man's intelligence does, and yet we 
 speak of various intellectual faculties as a convenient way of 
 expressing the various powers which man's intellect shows 
 by its works. In the same way we may speak of various 
 virtues or parts of virtue, in a practical sense, for the pxu:- 
 pose of showing what particular virtues we ought to prac- 
 tise in order to the exercise of the whole of virtue, that is, 
 as much as man's nature is capable of. 
 
 The prime principle in man's constitution is social. Tb« 
 
OF ANTONINUS. 37 
 
 next in order is not to yield to the persuasions of the body, 
 when they are not conformable to the rational principle, 
 which must govern. The third is freedom from error and 
 from deception. "Let then the ruling principle holding 
 fast to these things go straight on and it has what is its 
 own." (vii. 55.) The emperor selects justice as the virtue 
 which is the basis of all the rest (x. 11), and this had been 
 said long before his time. 
 
 It is true that all people have some notion of what is 
 meant by justice as a disposition of the mind, and some 
 notion about acting in conformity to this disposition; but 
 experience shows that men's notions about justice are as 
 confused as their actions are inconsistent with the true 
 notion of justice. The emperor's notion of justice is clear 
 enough, but not practical enough for all mankind. " Let 
 there be freedom from perturbations with respect to tlie 
 things which come from the external cause; and let there 
 be justice in things done by virtue of the internal cause, 
 that is, let there be movement and action terminating in 
 this, in social acts, for this is according to thy nature." 
 (tx. 31.) In another place (ix. 1) he says that "he who 
 acts unjustly acts impiously," which follows of course from 
 all that he says in various places. He insists on the practice 
 of truth as a virtue and as a means to virtue, which no 
 doubt it is: for lying even in indifferent things weakens the 
 understanding: and lying maliciously is as great a moral 
 offence as a man can be guilty of, viewed both as showing 
 an habitual disposition, and viewed with respect to its con- 
 sequences. He couples the notion of justice with action. 
 A man must not pride himself on having some fine notion 
 of justice in his head, but he must exhibit his justice in act, 
 like St James's notion of faith. But this is enough. 
 
 The Stoics and Antoninus among them call some things 
 beautiful (xaXd) and some ugly (alaxpa) and as they are 
 beautiful so they are good, and as they are ugly so they 
 are evil or bad. (ii. 1.) AH these things good and evil 
 are in our power, absolutely some of the stricter Stoics would 
 Bay; in a manner only, as those who would not depart 
 altogether from common sense would say; practically they 
 are to a great degree in the power of some persons and in 
 some circumstances, but in a small degree only in other 
 persons and in other circumstances. The Stoics maintain 
 man's free will as to the things which are in his power; for 
 as to the things which are out of his power, free will termi- 
 nating in action is of course excluded by the very terms of 
 the expression. I hardly know if we can discover exactly 
 Antoninus' notion of the free will of man, nor is the ques- 
 tion worth the inquiry. What he does mean and does say 
 is intelligible. All the things which are not in our power 
 {a-rrpoaipeTa] are indifferent : they are neither good nor 
 bad, morally. Such are life, health, wealth, power, dis- 
 ease, poverty and death. Life and death are all men's 
 portion. Health, wealth, power, disease and poverty 
 happen to men indifferently to the good and to the bad; to 
 those who live according to nature and to those who do 
 not. "Life," says the emperor, "is a warfare and a 
 Stranger's sojoiu-n, and after fame is oblivion," (ji. 17.) 
 
38 THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 After speaking of those men who have disturbed the world 
 and then died, and of the death of philosophers such as 
 Heraclitus and Democritus who was destroyed by Jice, and 
 of Socrates whom other lice (his enemies) destroyed), he 
 says: "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 tliat which serves it is 
 superior: for the one is intelligence and deity; the other is 
 earth and corruption." (iii. 3.) It is not death that a man 
 should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live 
 according to nature, (xii. 1.) Every man should live in 
 such a way as to discharge his duty, and to trouble himself 
 about nothing else. He should live such a life that he shall 
 always be ready for death, and shall depart content when 
 the summons comes. For what is death ? "A cessation of 
 the impressions through the senses, and of the pulling of 
 the strings which move the appetites and of the discursive 
 movements of the thoughts, and of the service to the flesh." 
 (vi. 28.) Death is such as generation is, a mystery of 
 nature, (iv. 5.) In another passage, the exact meaning of 
 which is perhaps doubtful (ix. 3), he speaks of the child 
 which leaves the womb, and so he says the soul at death 
 leaves its envelope. As the child is born or comes into life 
 by leaving the womb, so the soul may on leaving the body 
 pass into another existence which is perfect. I am not sure 
 if this is the emperor's meaning. Butler compares it with 
 a passage in Strabo about the Brahmins' notion of death 
 being the birth into real life and a happy life to those who 
 have philosophized; and he thinks that Antoninus may 
 allude to this opinion.* 
 
 Antoninus' opinion of a future life is nowhere clearly ex- 
 pressed. His doctrine of the nature of the soul of necessity 
 implies that it does not perish absolutely, for a portion of 
 the divinity cannot perish. The opinion is at least as old 
 as the time of Epicharmus and Euripides; what comes from 
 earth goes back to earth, and what comes from heaven, the 
 divinity, returns to Him who gave it. But I find nothing 
 clear in Antoninus as to the notion of the man existing after 
 death so as to be conscious of his sameness with that soul 
 which occupied his vessel of clay. He seems to be perplexed 
 on this matter, and finally to have rested in this, that God 
 or the gods will do whatever is best and consistent with the 
 university of things. 
 
 Nor I think does he speak conclusively on another Stoic 
 doctrine , which some Stoics practised, the anticipating the 
 regular course of nature by a man's own act. The reader 
 will find some passages in which this is touched on, and ho 
 
 * Seneca (Ep. 102-) has the same, whether an expression of his 
 own opiuiou, or merely a fine saying of others employed to em- 
 bellish his writings, I know not. After speaking of the child 
 being prepared in the womb to live this life, he adds, " Sic per 
 hoc spatium, quod ab infantia patet in senectutem, in alium 
 naturae sumimur paitum. Aha origo uos expectat, aUu^ reruta 
 status." 
 
or ANTON 1J\ V a. 39 
 
 ttiay make of them what he can. But there are passages in 
 which the emperor encourages himself to wait for the end 
 patiently and with tranquillity; and certainly it is consistent 
 with all his hest teaching that a man should bear all that 
 falls to his lot and do useful acts as long as he lives. He 
 sliould not therefore abridge the time of his usefulness by 
 his own act. Whether he contemplates any possible cases 
 inwhich a man should die by his own hand, I cannot tell, 
 and the matter is not worth a curious inquiry, for I believe 
 it would not lead to any certain result as to his opinion on 
 this point. I do not think that Antoninus, who never men- 
 tions Seneca, though he must have known all about him, 
 would have agreed with Seneca when he gives as a reason 
 for suicide, that the eternal law, whatever he means, has 
 made nothing better for us than this, that it has given lis 
 only one way of entering into life and many ways of going 
 out of it. The ways of going out indeed are many, and thai 
 is a good reason for a man taking care of himself. 
 
 Happiness was not the direct object of a Stoic's life. 
 There is no rule of life contained in the precept that a man 
 should pursue his own happiness. Many men think that 
 tliey are seeking happiness when they are only seeking the 
 gialiilcation of some particular passion, the strongest that 
 tliey liave. The end of a man is, as already explained, to live 
 conformably to nature, and he will thus obtain happiness, 
 tranquillity of mind and contentment, (in, 12; viii. 1, and 
 other places. ) As a means of living conformably to nature 
 he must study the four chief virtues, each of which has its 
 proper sphere : wisdom or the knowledge of good and evil ; 
 justice, or the giving to every man his due; fortitude, or the 
 enduring of labor and pain; and temperance, which is mod- 
 eration in all things. By thus living conformably to nature, 
 the Stoic obtained all that he wished or expected. His re- 
 ward was in his virtuous life, and he was satisfied with that. 
 Some Greek poet long ago wrote : — 
 
 For virtue only of all human things 
 
 Takes her reward not from the hands of others. 
 
 Virtue herself rewards the toils of virtue. 
 
 Some of the Stoics indeed expressed themselves in very 
 ari'ogant, absurd terms, about the wise man's self sufficiency; 
 they elevated him to the rank of a deity.* But these were 
 only talkers and lecturers, such as those in all ages who 
 utter fine words, know little of human affairs, and care only 
 for notoriety. Epicteius and Antoninus both by precept 
 and example labored to improve themselves and others: and 
 if we discover imperfections in their teaching, we must still 
 honor these great men who attempted to show that there is 
 in man's nature and in the constitution of things sufficient 
 reason for living a virtuous life. It is difficult enough to live 
 as we ought to live, difficult even for any man to live in 
 
 • J. Smith in his Select Discourses on " the Excellency and 
 Nobleness of true religion" (c. vr.) has remarked on this Stoical 
 arrogance. He fiuds it in Seneca and otliers. In Seneca cer- 
 tainly, and perhaps something of it in Epictetus; but it is not in 
 Antoniaus. 
 
40 THE PHILOSOPHY OF ANTONINUS. 
 
 such a way as to satisfy himself, if he exercises only in a 
 moderate degree tlie power of reflecting upon and reviewing 
 his own conduct; and if all men cannot be brought to th< 
 same opinions in morals and religion, it is at least wortl 
 while to give them good reasons for as much as they mv- h( 
 persuaded to accept. 
 
M. ANTONINUS. 
 
 I. 
 
 Fkom my grandfather Verus^ [I learned] 
 good morals and the government of my temper. 
 
 2. From the reputation and remembrance of 
 my father,^ modesty and a manly character. 
 
 3. From m}^ mother,^ piety and beneficence, 
 and abstinence, not only from evil deeds, hut even 
 from evil tJioughts ; and further, simplicity in my 
 way of living, far removed from the habits of 
 the rich. 
 
 4. From my great-grandfather,* not to have 
 frequented 2:)ublic schools, and to have had good 
 teachers at home, and to know that on such 
 things a man should spend liberally. 
 
 5. From my governor, to be neither of the 
 green nor of the blue party at the games in the 
 Circus, nor a partisan either of the Parmularius 
 or the Scutarius at the gladiators' fights ; from 
 him too I learned endurance of labor, and to 
 want little, and to work with my own hands, 
 and not to meddle with other people's affairs, 
 and not to be ready to listen to slander. 
 
 ^ Annius Yerus was his grandfather's name. There is 
 no verb in this section connected with the word "from," 
 nor in the following sections of this book; and it is not 
 quite certain wliat verb sliould be supplied. What I have 
 added may express the meaning here, though there are 
 sections which it will not fit. If he does not mean to say 
 lliat he learned all these good things from the several per- 
 sons whom he mentions, he means that he observed cer- 
 tain good quahties in them, or received certain benefits 
 from them, and it is implied that he was the better for it, 
 or at least might have been; for it would be a mistake to 
 understand Marcus as saying that lie possessed all the 
 virtues whicli he observed in his kinsmen and teachers. 
 
 2 His father's name was Annius Verus. 
 
 ? His mother was Domitia Calvilla, named also Lucilla 
 
 ^ Perhaps bis motbe's graudfather« Catillus Sevenw. 
 
42 THOUGHTS OF IHE EMPEROR 
 
 6. From Diognetus, not to busy myself about 
 trifling things, and not to give credit to wluit 
 was said by miracle- workers and jugglers about 
 incantations and the driving away of daemons 
 and such things ; and not to breed quails [fur 
 fighting], nor to give myself up passionately to 
 such tilings ; and to endure freedom of speech ; 
 and to have become intimate with philosophy ; 
 and to have been a hearer, first of Bacchius, 
 then of Tandasis and Marcianus ; and to have 
 written dialogues in my youth ; and to have 
 desired a plank bed and skin, and whatever 
 else of the kind belongs to the Grecian dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 7. From Rusticus ^ I received the impression 
 that my character required improvement and 
 discipline ; and from him I learned not to be 
 led astray to sophistic emulation, nor to writing 
 on speculative matters, nor to delivering little 
 hortatory orations, nor to showing myself off as 
 a man who practises much discipline, or does 
 benevolent acts in order to m^ake a display ; and 
 to abstain from rhetoric, and poetry, and fine 
 writing ; and not to walk about in the house in 
 my outdoor dress, nor to do other things of the 
 kind; and to write my letters with simplicity, 
 like the letter which Rusticus wrote from Sinu- 
 essa to my mother ; and with respect to those 
 who have offended me by \A'ords, or done me 
 wrong, to be easily disposed, to be pacified and 
 reconciled, as soon as they have shown a readi- 
 ness to be reconciled ; and to read carefully^ 
 and not to he satisfied with a superficial under- 
 standing of a hook ; nor hastily to give my assent 
 
 '^ Q. Junius Rusticus was a Stoic philosopher, whom An- 
 toninus vakied highly, and often took his advice. (Capitol, 
 3/. Antonin iii.) 
 
 Antoninus says, rots 'ETrt/cTT/refois ^ofj.v^fM(Tiii^ which 
 
 must not be translated, "the writings of Epictetus," for 
 Epictetus wrote nothing. His pupil Arrian, who has pre- 
 served for us all that we know of Epictetus, says, ravra ^et» 
 pddUfP hroixv-nutaTO, iaavrij Staoi/Xdjat t^s iKelvov diavo'-ai. 
 
M. AVttELlUS ANTONWVS.. 43 
 
 to those wlio talk over-much ; and I am indebted 
 to him for being acquainted with the discourses 
 of Epictetus, which he communicated to me out 
 of his own collection. 
 
 8. From ApoUonius^ I learned freedom of will 
 and undeviating steadiness of purpose ; and to 
 look to nothing else, not even for a moment, ex- 
 cept to reason ; and to be always the same, in 
 sharp pains, on the occasion of the loss of_a 
 child, and in long illness ; and to see clearly in 
 a living example that the same man can be both 
 most resolute and yielding, and not peevish in 
 giving his instruction ; and to have had before 
 my eyes a man who clearly considered his ex- 
 perience and his skill in expounding philoso- 
 phical principles as the smallest of his merits ; 
 and from him I learned how to receive from 
 friends what are esteemed favors, without being 
 either humbled by them or letting them pass 
 unnoticed. 
 
 9. From Sextus,': a benevolent disposition, and 
 the example of a family governed in a fatherly 
 manner, and the idea of living conformable to 
 nature ; and gravity without affectation, and to 
 look carefully after the interests of friends, a.nd 
 to tolerate ignorant persons, and those who 
 form opinions without consideration f : he had 
 the powers of readily accommodating himself to 
 all, so that intercourse with him was more 
 agreeable than any flattery ; and at the same time 
 he was most highly venerated by those who as- 
 sociated with him : and he had the faculty both 
 of discovering and ordering, in an intelligent 
 and methodical way, the principles necessary 
 for life ; and he never showed anger or any other 
 passion, but was entirely free from passion, 
 also most affectionate ; and he could express 
 
 6 Apollonias of Chalcis came to Rome in the time of Pius 
 to be Marcus, preceptor. He was a rigid Stoic. 
 
 7 Sextus of Cliferouea, a grandson of Plutarcli. or nephew, 
 as some say ; but more probably a grandson. 
 
44 TBOXTGHTS OF THE EMPEHOh, 
 
 approbation without noisy display, and lie pes* 
 sessed much knowledge without ostentatiouo 
 
 10. From Alexander 8 the grammarian, tore- 
 frani from fault-finding, and not in a reproachful 
 way to chide those who uttered any barbarous 
 or solecistic or strange-sounding expression ; but 
 dexterously to introduce the very expression 
 which ought to have been used, and in the way 
 of answering or giving confirmation, or joining 
 m an inquiry about the thing itself, not about 
 the word, or by some other fit suggestion. 
 
 11. From Fronto * I learned to observe what 
 envy, and duplicity, and hypocrisy are in a 
 tyrant, and that generally those among us who 
 are called Patricians are rather deficient in pater- 
 nal affection. 
 
 12. From Alexander the Platonic, not fre- 
 quently nor without necessity to say to any one, 
 or to write in a letter, tliat I have no leisure ; 
 nor continually to excuse the neglect of duties 
 required by our relation to those with whom we 
 live, by alleging urgent occupations. 
 
 13. From Catulus,io not to be indifferent when 
 a friend finds fault, even if he should find fault 
 without reason, but to try to restore liim to his 
 usual disposition ; and to be ready to speak well 
 of teachers, as it is reported of Domitius and 
 Athenodotus ; and to love my children truly. 
 
 ^14. From my brother" Severus, to love my 
 km, and to love truth, and to love justice ; and 
 through him I learned to knowThrasea, Helvid- 
 
 ^ Alexander was a Grammaticus, a native of Phrvt^ia 
 He wrote a commentary on Homre ; and the rbetorican 
 Anstides wrote a panegyric on Alexander in a funeral 
 oration. 
 
 « Cornelius Fronto was a rhetorician, and n great favor 
 with Marcus There arc extant various letters between 
 Marcus and Fronto. 
 
 10 Cinna Catulus, a Stoic philosopher. 
 
 The word brother may not be genuine. Antoninus had 
 no brothoj-. It has been supposed'that he may mean some 
 cousin. SehuKz omits '< brorlip--." and savs ibat thisSeverus 
 JS probably Claudius tteveruSj a peripatetic. 
 
M, AUBSLIUS ANTQ-^mUS. 45 
 
 ius, Cato, Dion, Brutus ;i2 and from him I receiv- 
 ed the idea of a polity in which there is the same 
 law for all, a polity administered with regard to 
 equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and 
 the idea of a kingly government which respects 
 most of all the freedom of the governed; I 
 learned from him also f consistency and un- 
 deviating steadiness in my regard for philosophy; 
 and a disposition to do good, and to give to 
 others readily, and to cherish good hopes, and 
 to believe that I am loved by my friends ; and 
 in him I observed no concealment of his opinions 
 with respect to those whom he condemned, and 
 that his friends had no need to conjecture what 
 he wished or did not wish, but it was quite 
 plain. 
 
 15. From Maximus^^ I learned self-government, 
 and not to be led aside by anything ; and cheer- 
 fulness in all circumstances, as well as in illness ; 
 and a just admixture in the moral character of 
 sweetness and dignity, and to do what was set 
 before me without complaining, I observed that 
 everybody believed that he thought as he spoke, 
 and that in all that he did he never had any bad 
 intention ; and he never showed amazement and 
 surprise, and was never in a hurry, and never put 
 off doing a thing, nor was perplexed nor de- 
 jected, nor did he ever laugh to disguise his 
 vexation, nor, on the other hand, was he ever 
 passionate or suspicious. He was accustomed 
 to do acts of beneficence, and was ready to for- 
 give, and was free from all falsehood ; and he 
 presented the appearance of a man who could 
 not be diverted from right rather than of a man 
 
 ^2 We know, from Tacitus {Annal.siui. , xvi. 21 ; and other 
 passages), who Thrasea and Helvidius were. Plutarch has 
 written the lives of the two Catos, and of Dion and Brutus. 
 Antoninus probably alludes to Cato of Utica, who was a 
 Stoic. 
 
 ^ Claudius Maximus was a Stoic philosopher, who was 
 highly esteemed also by Antoninus Pius, Marcus' prede- 
 cessor. The character of luaximus is that of a perfect 
 man. (See viii. 25.) 
 
46 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROB. 
 
 who had been improved. I observed, too, that 
 no man could ever think that he was despised 
 by Maximus, or ever venture to think himself a 
 better man. He had also the art of being hu- 
 morous in an agreeable way.f 
 
 16. In mj father -^^ I observed mildness of 
 temper, and unchangeable resolution in the 
 things which he had determined after due delib- 
 eration ; and no vainglory in those things which 
 men call honors ; and a love of labor and perse- 
 verence : and a readiness to listen to those who 
 had anything to propose for the common weal ; 
 and undeviating firmness in giving to every man 
 according to his deserts ; and a knowledge de- 
 rived from experience of the occasions for vig- 
 orous action and for remission. And I observ- 
 ed that he had overcome all passion for boys ; 
 and he considered himself no more than any 
 other citizen ; and he released his friends from 
 all obligation to sup with him or to attend him 
 of necessity when he went abroad, and those 
 who had failed to accompany him, by reason of 
 any urgent circumstances, always found him 
 the same. I observed too his habit of careful 
 inquiry in all matters of deliberation, and his 
 persistency, and that he never stopped his inves- 
 tigation through being satisfied with appear- 
 ces which first present themselves ; and that 
 his disposition was to keep his friends, and not 
 to be soon tired of them, nor yet to be extrava- 
 gant in his affection; and to be satisfied on all 
 occasions, and cheerful; and to foresee things a 
 long way off, and to provide for the smallest 
 without display ; and to check immediately pop- 
 ular 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 patient- 
 ly to endure the blame which he got for such 
 conduct ; and he was neither superstitious with 
 
 ^* He means his adoptive father, his predecessor, the Em- 
 peror Antoninus Pius. 
 
M. A VRELIU8 ANTOiS'TNUS. 4? 
 
 Tf-gpect to the gods, nor did lie court men by 
 gifts or by trying to please them, or by flatter- 
 ing 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 
 w^as 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 wlio 
 pretended to be philosophers, nor yet was he 
 easily led by them. He was also easy in con- 
 versation, and he made himself agreeable with- 
 out any offensive affectation. He took a rea- 
 sonable 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 way 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 ac- 
 cording to his deserts ; and he always acted con- 
 formably to the institutions of his country, with- 
 out showing any affectation of doing so. Fur- 
 ther, he was not fond of change nor unsteady, but 
 he loved to stay in the same places, and to em- 
 ploy 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 
 
48 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEliOR. 
 
 Yery rare, and these only about public 
 matters ; and lie showed prudebce and econ- 
 omy in the exhibition of the public spec- 
 tacles 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 un- 
 seasonable 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.^^ His dress came from 
 Lorium, his villa on the coast, and from Lanu- 
 vium generally.!^ We know how he behaved to 
 the toll-collector in Tusculum who asked liis 
 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, vigorous- 
 ly and consistently. And that might be applied 
 to him which is recorded of Socrates,^'^ 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 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 ilhiess of Maximus. 
 
 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, 
 
 ^5 This passage is corrupt, and the exact meaning is un- 
 certain. 
 
 ^'' Lorium was a villa on the coast north of Kome, and 
 there Antoninus was brought up, and he died there. This 
 also is corrupt. 
 
 ^''Xenophon, Memorab. i. 3. 15. 
 
M. AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. 40 
 
 might liave 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 grand- 
 father'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 sub- 
 jected to a ruler and a father who Avas 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,^^ 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 time after, because they were then still 
 young ; that I knew ApoUonius, Rusticus, Maxi- 
 mus ; that I received clear and frequent impres- 
 sions 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 inspira- 
 tions, nothing hindered me from forthwith living 
 
 ^^ The emperor had no brother, except L- Vems, his 
 brother by adoption. 
 
^^i^^as 
 
 60 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR. 
 
 according to nature, tliougli I still fall short of 
 it through my own fault, and through not ob- 
 serving 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 Theo- 
 dotus, and that, after having fallen into amatory 
 passions, I was cured ; and, though I was often 
 out of humor with Rusticus, I never did any- 
 thing 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,^^ so obedient, and so affectionate, and so 
 simple ; that I had abundance of good masters 
 for ni}^ children ; and that remedies have been 
 shown to me by dreams, both others, and against 
 
 blood-spitting and giddiness ^° ; 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.21 
 
 ^^ See tlie Life of Antoninus. 
 
 ^ This is corrupt. 
 
 21 The Quadi lived in the southern part of Bohemia and 
 Moravia ; and Antoninus made a campaign against tliem. 
 (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 tlie Quadi. In tlie first 
 edition of Antoninus, and in the older editions, the first 
 three sections of the second boo Iv make the conclusion of the 
 first book. Gataker placed them at the beginning of the 
 second book. 
 
M. AUEELIUS ANTONINUS. 5t 
 
 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 igno- 
 rance 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 kins- 
 man, 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.. To act 
 against one another then is contrary to nature ; 
 and it is acting against one another to be vexed 
 and to turn away. 
 
 2. Whatever this is that I am, it is a little 
 flesh and breath, and the ruling part. Throw 
 away thy books ; no longer distract thyself : it 
 is not allowed; but as if thou wast now dying, 
 despise the flesh : it is blood and bones and a 
 network, a contexture of nerves, veins, and ar- 
 teries. See the breath also, what kind of a 
 thing it is, air, and not always the same, but 
 every moment sent out and again sucked in. 
 The third then is the ruling part : consider 
 thus : Thou art an old man ; no longer let this 
 be a slave, no longer be pulled by the strings like 
 a puppet to unsocial movements, no longer be 
 either dissatisfied with thy present lot, or shrink 
 from the future. 
 
 3. All that is from the gods is full of provi- 
 denceo That which is from fortune is not sep- 
 
^^^SSSSSI^B 
 
 52 TROUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR. 
 
 arated from nature or without an interweaving 
 and involutio]! with the things which are or- 
 dered by providence. From thence all things 
 flow ; and there is besides necessity, and that 
 which is for the advantage of the whole uni- 
 verse, of which thou art a part. But that is 
 good for every part of nature which the nature 
 of the whole brings, and what serves to main- 
 tain this nature. Now the universe is preserved, 
 as by the changes of the elements so by the 
 changes of things compounded. Let these prin- 
 ciples be enough for thee, let them always be 
 fixed opinions. But cast away the thirst after 
 books, that thou mayest not die murmuring, but 
 cheerfully, truly, and from thy heart thankful 
 to the gods. 
 
 4. Remember how long thou hast been put- 
 ting off these things, and how often thou hast 
 received an opportunity from the gods, and yet 
 dost not use it. Thou must now at last per- 
 ceive of what universe thou art a part, and of 
 what administrator of the universe thy exist- 
 ence is an efflux, and that a limit of time is 
 fixed for thee, which if thou dost not use for 
 clearing away the clouds from thy mind, it will 
 go and thou wilt go, and it will never return,, 
 
 5. Every moment think steadily as a Roman 
 and a man, to do what thou hast in hand with 
 perfect and simple dignity, and feeling of affec- 
 tion, and freedom, and justice ; and to give thy- 
 self relief from all other thoughts. And thou 
 wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act 
 of thy life as if it were the last, laying aside all 
 carelessness and passionate aversion from the 
 commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, and self- 
 love, and discontent with the portion which has 
 been given to thee. Thou seest how few the 
 things are, the which if a man lays hold of, he 
 is able to live a life which flows in quiet, and is 
 like the existence of the gods ; for the gods on 
 their part will require nothing more from him 
 who observes these things, 
 
M. AUBELIUS ANTONIKUS. 53 
 
 6. Do wrong to thyself, do wrong to thyself, 
 my soul; but thou wilt no longer have the op- 
 portunity of honoring thyself. Every man's life 
 is sufficient.! But thine is nearly finished, 
 though thy soul reverence not itself, but places 
 thy felicity in the souls of others. 
 
 7. Do the things external which fall upon 
 thee distract thee ? Give thyself time to learn 
 something new and good, and cease to be whirl- 
 ed around. But then thou must also avoid being 
 carried about the other way. For those too are 
 triflers who have wearied themselves in life by 
 their activity, and yet have no object to which 
 to direct every movement, and, in a word, all 
 their thoughts. 
 
 8. Through not observing what is in the mind 
 of another a man has seldom been seen to be un- 
 happy; but those who do not observe the move- 
 ments of their own minds must of necessity be 
 unhappy. 
 
 9. This thou must always bear in mind, what 
 is the nature of the whole, and what is my na- 
 ture, and how this is related to that, and what 
 kind of a part it is of what kind of a whole ; 
 and that there is no one who hinders thee from 
 always doing and saying the things which are 
 according to the nature of which thou art a 
 part. 
 
 10. Theophrastus, in his comparison of bad 
 acts — such a comparison as one would make in 
 accordance with the common notions of man- 
 kind — says, like a true philosopher, that the 
 offences which are committed through desire are 
 more blamable than those which are committed 
 through anger. For he who is excited by anger 
 seems to turn away from reason with a certain 
 pain and unconscious contraction ; but he who 
 offends through desire, being overpowered by 
 pleasure, seems to be in a manner more intem- 
 perate and more womanish in his offences. 
 Rightly then, and in a way worthy of philosphy, 
 Jie said that the offence which is committed with 
 
54 TBOUQIITS OF THE F.MPFROR 
 
 pleasure is more blamable ttian that which is 
 committed with pain ; and on the whole the one 
 is more like a person who has been first wronged 
 and through pain is compelled to be angry ; but 
 the other is moved bj his own impulse to do 
 wrong, being carried towards doing something 
 by desire. 
 
 11. Since it is possible that thou mayest de- 
 part from life this very moment, regulate eve/y 
 act and thought accordingly. But to go awa " 
 from among men, if there are gods, is not a 
 thing to be afraid of, for the gods will not 
 involve thee in evil ; but if indeed they do not 
 exist, or if they have no concern about human 
 affairs, what it is to me to live in a universe de- 
 void of gods or devoid of providence ? But in 
 truth they do exist, and they do care for human 
 things, and they have put all the means in man's 
 power to enable him not to fall into real evils. 
 And as to the rest, if there was anything evil, 
 they would have provided for this also, that it 
 should be altogether in a man's power not to fall 
 into it. Now that which does not make a man 
 worse, how can it make a man's life worse ? 
 But neither through ignorance, nor having the 
 knowledge, but not the power to guard against 
 or correct these things, is it possible that the 
 nature of the universe has overlooked them; 
 nor is it possible that it has made so great a 
 mistake, either through want of power or want 
 of skill, that good and evil should happen 
 indiscriminately to the good and the bad. But 
 death certainly, and life, honor and dishonor, 
 pain and pleasure, all these things equally? 
 happen to good men and bad, being things 
 which make us neither better nor worse. There* 
 fore they are neither good nor evil. 
 
 12. How quickly all things disappear, in the 
 universe ? the bodies themselves, but in time the 
 remembrance of them ; what is the nature of all 
 sensible things, and particulaly those which 
 attract with the bait of pleasure or terrify by 
 
M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 65 
 
 pain, or are noised abroad by vapory fame ; how 
 worthless, and contemptible, and sordid, and per- 
 ishable, and dead they are — all this it is the 
 part of the intellectual facultj' to observe. To 
 observe too who these are whose opinions and 
 voices give reputation ; what death is, and the 
 fact that, if a man looks at it in itself, and by 
 the abstractive power of reflection revolves into 
 their parts all the things which present them- 
 selves to the imagination in it, he will then 
 consider it to be nothing else than an operation of 
 nature ; and if one is afraid of an operation of 
 nature, he is a child. This, however, is not only 
 an operation of nature, but it is also a thing 
 which conduces to the purposes of nature. To 
 observe too how man comes near to the deity, 
 aud by what part of him, and when this part of 
 man is so disposed.f 
 
 13. Nothing is more wretched than a man 
 who traverses everything in a round, and pries 
 into the things beneath the earth, as the poet 
 says, and seeks by conjecture what is in the 
 minds of his neighbors, without perceiving that 
 it is sufficient to attend to the daemon within 
 him, and to reverence it sincerely. And rever- 
 e 'ice of the daemon consists in keeping it pure 
 f 1 im passion and thoughtlessness, and dissatis- 
 faction with what comes from gods and men. 
 For the things from the gods merit veneration 
 for their excellence ; and the things from men 
 should be dear to us by reason of kinship ; and 
 sometimes even, in a manner, they move our 
 pity by reason of men's ignorance of good and 
 bad ; this defect being not less than that which 
 deprives us of the power of distinguishing 
 things that are white and black. 
 
 14. Though thou shouldest be going to live 
 three thousand years, aud as many times ten 
 thousand years, still remember that no man 
 loses any other life than this which he now lives 
 nor lives any other than this which he now loses. 
 Tha longest aud shortest are thus brought to 
 
66 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEEOE. 
 
 the same. For the present is the same to all, 
 though that which is past is not the same ; and 
 so that which is lost appears to be a mere mo- 
 ment. For a man cannot lose either the past 
 or the future : for what a man has not, how can 
 any one take this from him ? These two things 
 then thou must bear in mind; the one, that all 
 things from eternity are of like forms and come 
 round in a circle, and that it makes no difference 
 whether a man shall see the same things during 
 a hundred years or two hundred, or an infinite 
 time ; and the second, that the longest liver and 
 he who will die soonest lose just the same. 
 For the present is the only thing of which a 
 man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the 
 only thing which he has, and that a* man can- 
 not lose a thing if he has it not. 
 
 15. Remember that all is opinion. For what 
 was said by the Cynic Monimus is manifest : 
 and manifest too is the use of what was said, if 
 a man receives what may be got out of it as far 
 as it is true. 
 
 16. The soul of man does violence to itself, 
 first of all, when it becomes an abscess and, as 
 it were, a tumor on the universe, so far as it 
 can. For to be vexed at anything which hap- 
 pens is a separation of ourselves from nature, in 
 some part of which the natures of all other things 
 are contained. In the next place, the soul does 
 violence to itself when it turns away from any 
 man, or even moves towards him with the in- 
 tention of injuring, such as are the souls of 
 those who are angry. In the third place, the 
 soul does violence to itself when it is over- 
 powered by pleasure or by pain. Fourth- 
 ly, when it plays a part, and does or says 
 anything insincerely and untruly. Fifthly, 
 when it allows any act of its own and any move- 
 ment to be without an aim, and does anything 
 thoughtlessly and without considering what it 
 is, it being right that even the smallest things 
 be done with reference to an end^ and the en(J 
 
3f. AVRELIUS ANTONmtrS. QT 
 
 of rational animals is to follow the reason and 
 the law of the most ancient city and polity. 
 
 17. Of human life the time is a point, and the 
 substance is in a flux, and the perception dull, 
 :iiid the composition of the whole body subject 
 to putrefaction, and the soul a whirl, and for- 
 tune hard to divine, and fame a thing devoid of 
 judgment. And, to say all in a word, every- 
 thing which belongs to the body is a stream, 
 and what belongs to the soul is a dream and va- 
 por, and life is a warfare and a stranger's so- 
 journ, and after-fame is oblivion. What then 
 is that which is able to conduct a man? One 
 thing and only one, philosophy. But this con- 
 sists in keeping the daemon within a man free 
 from violence and unharmed, superior to pains 
 and pleasures, doing nothing without a purpose, 
 nor yet falsely and with hypocris}^, not feeling the 
 need of another man's doing or not doing any- 
 thing ; 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 chang- 
 ing into another, why should a man have any 
 apprehension about the change and dissolution 
 of all the elements ? For it is according to na- 
 ture, and nothing is evil which is according to 
 nature. 
 
 This in Carnuntum.^ 
 
 1 Carnuntum was a town of Pannonia, on the south side of 
 the Danube, about thirty miles east of Vindobona (Vienna), 
 Orosius (vii. 15. ) and Eutropius (viii. 18.) say tliat Anto- 
 n i ruis remained three years at Carnuntum during his war with 
 Marcomanni, 
 
58 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 III. 
 
 We ougnt 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 comprehen- 
 sion of things, and retain the power of contem- 
 plation which strives to acquire the knowledge 
 of the divine and the human. For if he shall 
 begin to fall into dotage, perspiration, and nu- 
 trition, and imagination, and appetite, and what- 
 ever else there is of the kind, will not fail ; but 
 the power of making use of ourselves, and fill- 
 ing up the measure of our duty, and clearly sep- 
 arating all appearances, and considering whether 
 a man should now depart from life, and whatj 
 ever else of the kind absolutely requires a dis- 
 ciplined 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. 
 
 2. 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 sur- 
 face, and these parts which are 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, ga^e 
 open ; and in the ripe olives the very circui. r- 
 stance of their being near to rottenness adds u 
 ■peculiar beauty to the fruit. And the ears of 
 com bending down, and the lion's eyebrows, 
 
M. AUEELIUS ANTONINUS. 59 
 
 and the foam whicn flows from the mouth of 
 wild boars, and many other things — though they 
 are far from being beautiful, if a man should ex- 
 amine 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 feel- 
 ing 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 con 
 sequence 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 
 ^:>ainters 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 
 vyill 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 lias 
 become truly familiar with nature and her 
 works. 
 
 3. Hippocrates after curing many diseases 
 himself fell sick and died. The Chaldsei fore- 
 told the deaths of many, and then fate caught 
 them too. Alexander and Pompeius, and Caius 
 Gsesar, after so often completely destroying 
 whole cities, and in battle cutting to pieces many 
 ten thousands of cavalry and infantry, them- 
 selves too at last dejDarted from life. Heracli- 
 tus, after so many speculations on the conflagra- 
 tion of the universe, was filled with water in- 
 ternally 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 an- 
 other 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, whiph is as muQli 
 
60 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEBOR 
 
 inferior as that whicli serves it is superior ; f for 
 the one is intelligence and deity ; the other is 
 earth and corruption. 
 
 4. 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 some- 
 thing 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 ob- 
 servation of our own ruling power. We ought 
 then to check in the series of our thoughts every- 
 thing that is without a purpose and useless, but 
 most of all the overcurious feeling and the mal- 
 ignant ; 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, or 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 as no longer to delay 
 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, un- 
 harmed 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 in- 
 terest, imagining what another says, or does, or 
 thinks.. For it is only what belongs to himself 
 
M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 61 
 
 that lie 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. f And he re- 
 members also that every rational animal is his 
 kinsman, and that to care for all men is accord- 
 ing 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 im- 
 pure life. Accordingly, he does not value at all 
 the praise which comes from such men, since 
 they are not even satisfied with themselves. 
 
 5. Labor not unwillingly, nor without regard 
 to the common interest, nor without due consid- 
 eration, 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 ex- 
 ternal help nor the tranquillity which others 
 give. A man then must stand erect, not be 
 Icept erect by others. 
 
 6. If thou findest in human life anything bet 
 ter 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 
 
62 THOUGHTS OF THE EMrSROB 
 
 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 wliich 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 good. 
 All these things, even though they may seem 
 to adapt themselves [to the better things] iu 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 wbich 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 judgment 
 without arrogance : only take care that thou 
 makest the inquiry by a sure method. 
 
 7. Never value anything as profitable to thy- 
 self which shall compel thee to break thy prom- 
 ise, 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 else his own 
 intelligence, and the daemon [within him] and 
 the worship of its excellence, acts no tragic 
 part, does not groan, will not need either soli- 
 tude or much company ; and, what is chief of all, 
 he will live without either pursuing or flying 
 from [life] ; but whether for a longer or a shorter 
 
M. AtfUELtUS ANTOmNTiS. 62 
 
 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 intel- 
 ligent animal and a member of a civil commu- 
 nity. 
 
 8. 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. 
 
 9. 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 con- 
 stitution of the rational animal. And this 
 faculty promises freedom from hasty judgment, 
 and friendship towards man, and obedience to 
 the gods. 
 
 10. 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 uncer- 
 tain. 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 succes- 
 sion of poor human beings, who will very soon 
 die, and who know not even themselves, much 
 less him who died long ago. 
 
 11. To the aids which have been mentioned 
 let this one still be added : — Make for thyself 
 a definition or description of the thing which 
 
04 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROU- 
 
 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 
 wliich it has been compounded, and into which 
 it will be resolved. For nothing is so produc- 
 tive 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 ref- 
 erence 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. Where- 
 fore, on every occasion a man should say : this 
 comes from God ; and this is according to the 
 opportunity f 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 how- 
 ever 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 as- 
 certain the value of each. 
 
 12. If thou workest at that which is before 
 thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, 
 calmly, without allowing anything else to dis- 
 tract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure, as 
 if thou shouldst be bound to give it back imme- 
 diately; if thou lioldestto this, expecting nothing, 
 fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present ac- 
 tivity according to nature, and with heroic truth 
 jin._ every word and sound which thou utterest, 
 
Jf. AURELIU8 AKtONINUa. 65 
 
 thou wilt live happy. And there is no man 
 
 who is able to prevent this. 
 
 13. As physicians have always their instru- 
 ments 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 everythhig, 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. 
 
 14. No longer wander at hazard ; for neither 
 wilt thou read thy own memoirs, nor the acts of 
 the ancient Romans and Hellenes, and the selec- 
 tions 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. 
 
 15. They know not how many things are sig- 
 nified by the words stealing, sowing, buying, 
 keeping quiet, seeing what ought to be done; 
 for this is not done by the eyes, but by another 
 kind of vision. 
 
 16. Body, soul, intelligence : to the body be- 
 long sensations, to the soul appetites, to the 
 intelligence principles. To receive the impres- 
 sions 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 intelli- 
 gence 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 th© 
 
66 
 
 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROB 
 
 divinity which is planted in liis breast, nor dis- 
 turb 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 de- 
 part, and without any compulsion perfectly 
 reconciled to his lot. 
 
M. AUIIELIUS ANTONINUS. &f 
 
 That which rules within, when it is according 
 to nature, is so affected with respect to the 
 events which happen, that it always easily adapts 
 itself to that which is possible and is presented 
 to it. For it requires no definite material, but 
 it moves towards its purpose, under certain con- 
 ditions however ; and it makes a material for 
 itself out of that which opposes it, as fire lays 
 hold of what falls into it, by which a small light 
 would have been extinguished: but when the 
 fire is strong,it soon appropriates to itself the 
 matter which is heaped on it, and consumes it, 
 and rises higher by means of this very material. 
 
 2. Let no act be done without a purpose, nor 
 otherwise than according to the perfect princi- 
 ples of art. 
 
 3. Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in 
 the country, sea-shores, and mountains ; and 
 thou too are wont to desire such things very much. 
 But this is altogether a mark of the most com- 
 mon sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever 
 thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For 
 nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom 
 from trouble does a man retire than into his own 
 soul, particularly when he has within him such 
 tlioughts that by looking into them he is imme- 
 diately in perfect tranquillity ; and I affirm that 
 tranquillity is nothing else than the good orders 
 ing of the mind. Constantly then give to thyself 
 this retreat, and renew thyself ; and let thy 
 principles be brief and fundamental, which, as 
 soon as thou shalt recur to them, will be suffi- 
 cient to cleanse the soul completely, and to send 
 thee back free from all discontent with, the 
 
68 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEEOB 
 
 things to which thou returnest. For with what 
 art thou discontented ? With the badness of 
 men ? Recall to thy mind this conclusion, that 
 rational animals exist for one another, and that 
 to endure is a part of justice, and that men do 
 wrong involuntarily ; and consider how many 
 already, after mutual enmity, suspicion, hatred, 
 and fighting, have been stretched dead, reduced 
 to ashes ; and be quiet at last. — But perhaps thou 
 art dissatisfied with that which is assigned to thee 
 out of the universe. — Recall to thy recollection 
 this alternative ; either there is providence of 
 atoms [fortuitous concurrence of things] ; or re- 
 member the arguments by which it has been 
 proved that the world is a kind of political com- 
 munity [and be quiet at last]. — But perhaps 
 corporeal things will still fasten upon thee. — Con- 
 sider then further that the mind mingles not 
 with the breath, whether moving gently or vio- 
 lently, when it has once drawn itself apart and 
 discovered its own power, and think also of all 
 that thou hast heard and assented to about pain 
 and pleasure [and be quiet at last]. — But perhaps 
 the desire of the thing called fame will torment 
 thee — See how soon everything is forgotten, and 
 look at the chaos of infinite time on each side 
 of [the present], and the emptiness of applause, 
 and the changeableness and want of judgment 
 in those who pretend to give praise, and the 
 narrowness of the space within which it is cir- 
 cumscribed [and be quiet at last]. For the 
 whole earth is a point, and how small a nook in 
 it is this thy dwelling, and how few are there 
 in it, and what kind of people are they who will 
 praise thee. 
 
 This then remains : Remember to retire into 
 this little territory of thy own, and above all do 
 not distract or strain thyself, but be free, and 
 look at things as a man, as a human being, as a 
 citizen, as a mortal. But among the things readi- 
 est to thy hand to which thou shalt turn, let 
 there be these, which are two. One is that 
 
X, AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. 60 
 
 things do not toucli the soul, for they are exteiv 
 nal and remain immovable ; but our perturba- 
 tions come only from the opinion which is within. 
 The other is that all these things whicli thou 
 seest change immediately and will no longer be ; 
 and constantly bear in mind how many of these 
 changes thou hast already witnessed. The uni- 
 verse is transformation : life is opinion. 
 
 4. If our intellectual part is common, the rea- 
 son also, in respect of which we are rational be- 
 ings, is common : if this is so, common also is 
 the reason which commands us what to do, and 
 what not to do ; if this is so, there is a common 
 law also ; if this is so, we are fellow-citizens ; if 
 this is so, we are members of some political com- 
 munity ; if this is so, the world is in a manner a 
 state. For of what other common political 
 community will any one say that the whole hu- 
 man race are members ? And from thence, from 
 this common political community comes also our 
 very intellectual faculty and reasoning faculty 
 and our capacity for law; or whence do they 
 come ? For as my earthly part is a portion giv- 
 en to me from certain earth, and that which is 
 watery from another element, and that which is 
 hot and fiery from some peculiar source (for 
 nothing comes out of that which is nothing, as 
 nothing also returns to non-existence), so also 
 the intellectual part comes from some source. 
 
 5. Death is such as generation is, a mystery 
 of nature ; a composition out of the same ele- 
 ments, and a decomposition into the same ; and 
 altogether not a thing of which any man should 
 be ashamed, for it is conformable to [the nature 
 of] a reasonable animal, and not contrary to 
 the reason of our constitution. 
 
 6. It is natural that these things should be 
 done by such persons, it is a matter of neces- 
 sity ; and if a man will not have it so, he will 
 not allow a fig-tree to have juice. But by all 
 means bear this in mind, that within a very 
 fhort tiac^e both thou and he will be dead \ an(l 
 
70 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROlt 
 
 soon not even your names will be left behind. 
 
 7. Take away thy opinion, and then there is 
 taken away the complaint, "I have been harm- 
 ed." Take away the complaint, "I have been 
 harmed," and the harm is taken away. 
 
 8. That which does not make a man worse 
 than he was, also does not make his life worse, 
 nor does it harm him either from without or 
 from within. 
 
 9. The nature of that which is [universally] 
 useful has been compelled to do this. 
 
 10. Consider that everything which happens, 
 happens justly, and if thou observest carefully, 
 thou wilt find it to be so. I do not say only 
 with respect to the continuity of the series of 
 things, but with respect to what is just, and as 
 if it were done by one who assigns to each 
 thing its value. Observe then as thou hast 
 begun ; and whatever thou doest, do it in con- 
 junction with this, the being good, and in the 
 sense in which a man is properly understood to 
 be good. Keep to this in every action. 
 
 11. Do not have such an opinion of things 
 as he has who does thee wrong, or such as he 
 wishes thee to have, but look at them as they 
 are in truth. 
 
 12. A man should always have these two 
 rules in readiness ; the one, to do only what- 
 ever the reason of the ruling and legislating 
 faculty may suggest for the use of men ; the 
 other, to change thy opinion, if there is any 
 one at hand who sets thee right and moves 
 thee from any opinion. But this change of 
 opinion must proceed only fi-om a certain per- 
 suasion as of what is just or of common advan- 
 tage, and the like, not because it appears pleas- 
 ant or brings reputation. 
 
 13. Hast thou reason ? I have. — Why then 
 dost not thou use it? For if this does its own 
 work, what else dost thou wish ? 
 
 14. Thou existest as a part. Thou shalt dis- 
 appear in that which produced thee ', but rath^y 
 
M. ATTRELIUS Alf^TOmNUS. 71 
 
 thou shalt be received back into its seminal 
 principle by transmutation. 
 
 15. Many grains of frankincense on the same 
 altar : one falls before, another falls after ; but it 
 makes no difference. 
 
 16. Within ten da3^s thou wilt seem a god to 
 those to whom thou art now a beast and an ape, 
 if thou wilt return to thy principles and the wor- 
 ship of reason. 
 
 17. Do not act as if thou wert going to live 
 ten thousand years Death hangs over thee. 
 While thou livest, while it is in thy power, bo 
 good. 
 
 18. How much trouble he avoids who does not 
 look to see what his neighbor says or does or 
 thinks, but only to what he does himself, that it 
 may be just and pure ; or as Agathon f says, 
 look not round at the depraved morals of others, 
 but run straight along the line without deviat- 
 ing from it. 
 
 19. He who has a vehement desire for posthu- 
 mous fame does not consider that every one of 
 those who remember him will himself also die 
 very soon ; then again also they who have suc- 
 ceeded them, until the whole remembrance shall 
 have been extinguished as it is transmitted 
 through men whe foolishly admire and perish. 
 But suppose that those who will remember are 
 even immortal, and that the remembrance will be 
 immortal, what then is this to thee ? And I say 
 not what is it to the dead, but what is it to the 
 living. What is praise, except f indeed so far 
 as it has f a certain utility ? For thou now 
 rejectest unseasonably the gift of nature, cling- 
 ing to something else . . . f . 
 
 20. Everything which is in any way beautiful 
 is beautiful in itself, and terminates in itself, not 
 having praise as part of itself. Neither worse 
 then nor better is i\ thing made by being praised. 
 I affirm this also oi' the things which are called 
 beautiful by the vulgar, for example, material 
 things and works of art. That which is really 
 
72 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR. 
 
 beautiful has no need of anything; not more 
 than law, not more than truth, not more than 
 benevolence or modesty. Which of these things 
 is beautiful because it is praised, or spoiled by 
 being blamed? Is such a thing as an emerald 
 made worse than it was, if it is not praised ? or 
 gold, ivory, purple, a lyre, a little knife, a flower, 
 a shrub ? 
 
 21. If souls continue to exist, how does the 
 air contain them from eternity ? — But how does 
 the earth contain the bodies of those who have 
 been buried from time so remote ? For as here 
 the mutation of these bodies after a certain con- 
 tinuance, whatever it may be, and their disso- 
 lution make room for other dead bodies ; so the 
 souls which are removed into the air after sub- 
 sisting for some time are transmuted, and dif- 
 fused, and assume a fiery nature by being re- 
 ceived into the seminal intelligence of the 
 universe, and in this way make room for the 
 fresh souls which come to dwell there. And 
 this is the answer which a man might give on 
 the hypothesis of souls continuing to exist. But 
 we must not only think of the number of bodies 
 which are thus buried, but also of the number 
 of animals which are daily eaten by us and the 
 other animals. For what a number is consumed, 
 and thus in a manner buried in the bodies ol 
 those who feed on them ? And nevertheless this 
 earth receives them by reason of the changes 
 [of these bodies] into blood, and the transform- 
 ations into the aerial or the fiery element. 
 
 What is the investigation into the truth in 
 this matter ? The division into that which is 
 material and that which is the cause of form 
 [the formal], (vii. 29.) 
 
 • 22. Do not be whirled about, but in every 
 movement have respect to justice, and on the 
 occasion of every impression maintain the fac- 
 ulty of comprehension [or understanding] . 
 
 23. Everything harmonizes with me, which 
 S9 harmonious to thee, O Universe. Nothing for 
 
M. AURELIU8 ANTONINUS. 73 
 
 me is too early nor too late, which is in due 
 time for thee. Everything is fruit to me which 
 thy seasons bring, O Nature : from thee are all 
 things, in thee are all things, to thee all things 
 return. The poet says, Dear city of Cecrops ; 
 and wilt not thou say, Dear city of Zeus? 
 
 24. Occupy thyself with few things, says the 
 philosopher, if thou wouldst be tranquil. — But 
 consider if it would not be better to say, Do 
 what is necessary, and whatever the reason of 
 the animal which is naturally social requires, 
 and as it requires. For this brings not only the 
 tranquillity which comes from doing well, but 
 also that which comes from doing few things. 
 For the greatest part of what we say and do 
 being unnecessar}^, if a man takes this away, 
 he will have more leisure and less uneasiness. 
 Accordingly on every occasion a man should ask 
 himself, is this one of the unnecessary things? 
 Now a man should take away not only unnec- 
 essary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts, for 
 thus superfluous acts will not follow after. 
 
 25. Try how the life of the good man suits 
 thee, the life of him who is satisfied with his por- 
 tion out of the whole, and satisfied with bis own 
 just acts and benevolent disposition. 
 
 26. Hast thou seen those things ? Look also 
 at these. Do not disturb thyself. Make thy- 
 self all simplicity. Does any one do wrong ? 
 It is to himself that he does the wrong. Has 
 anything happened to thee ? Weil, out of the 
 universe from the beginning everything which 
 happens has been apportioned and spun out to 
 thee. In a word, thy life is short. Thou must 
 turn to profit the present by the aid of reason 
 and justice. Be sober in thy relaxation 
 
 ^T. Either it is a well arranged universe ^ or 
 a chaos huddled together, but still a universe. 
 But can a certain order subsist in thee, and dis- 
 order in the All ? And tliis too when all things 
 
 ^ Antoninus here uses the word KdufMs both in the sens* 
 of the Universe and of Order ; and it is difficult to express 
 bis meaning, 
 
74 THOUGHTS GF THE EMPEROR 
 
 are so separated and diffused and sympathetic. 
 
 28. A black character, a womanish character, 
 a stubborn character, bestial, childish, animal, 
 stupid, counterfeit, scurrilous, fraudulent, tyran- 
 nical. 
 
 29. If he is a stranger to the universe who 
 does not know what is in it, no less is he a 
 stranger who does not know what is going on in 
 it. He is a runaway, who flies from social rea- 
 son ; he is blind, who shuts the eyes of the un- 
 derstanding ; he is poor, who has need of an- 
 other, and has not from himself all things which 
 are useful for life. He is an abscess on the 
 universe who withdraws and separates himself 
 from the reason of our common nature through 
 being displeased with the thi:igs which happen, 
 for the same nature produces this, and has pro- 
 duced thee too : he is a piece rent asunder from 
 the state, who tears his own soul from that of 
 reasonable animals, which is one. 
 
 30. The one is a philosopher without a tunic, 
 and the other without a book: here is another 
 half naked : Bread I have not, he says, and I 
 abide by reason — And I do not get the means 
 of living out of my learning,! and I abide [by 
 my reason]. 
 
 31. Love the art, poor as it may be, which 
 thou hast learned, and be cor tent with it ; and 
 pass through the rest of life like one who has 
 intrusted to the gods with his whole soul all 
 that he has, making thyself neither the tyrant 
 nor the slave of any man. 
 
 32. Consider, for example, the times of Ves- 
 pasian. Thou wilt see all these things, people 
 marrying, bringing up children, sick, dying, 
 warring, feasting, trafficking, cultivating the 
 ground, flattering, obstinately arrogant, sus- 
 pecting, plotting, wishing for some to die, 
 grumbling about the present, loving, heaping 
 up treasure, desiring consulship, kingly power. 
 
 [ Well then, that life of these people no longer 
 exists at all. Again remove to the time of 
 Trajan. AgaLn* allis the same. Their lifo too 
 
M. AURELtUS ANTOntNUS. 75 
 
 is gone. In like manner view also the other 
 epochs of time and of whole nations, and see 
 how many after great efforts soon fell and were 
 resolved into the elements. But chiefly thou 
 shouldst think of those whom thou hast thyself 
 known distracting themselves about idle things, 
 neglecting to do what was in accordance with 
 their proper constitution, and to hold firmly to 
 this and to be content with it. And herein it is 
 necessary to remember that the attention given 
 to everything has its proper value and propor- 
 tion. For thus thou wilt not be dissatisfied, if 
 thou appliest thyself to smaller matters no fur- 
 ther than is fit. 
 
 33. The words which were formerly familiar 
 are now antiquated : so also the names of those 
 who were famed of old, are now in a manner 
 antiquated, Camillus, Caeso, Volesus, Leon- 
 natus, and a little after also Scipio and Cato, 
 then Augustus, then also Hadrianus and Anto- 
 ninus. For all things soon pass away and become 
 a mere tale, and complete oblivion soon buries 
 them. And I say this of those who have shone 
 in a wondrous way. For the rest, as soon as 
 they have breathed out their breath, they are 
 gone, and no man speaks of them. And, to 
 conclude the matter, v/hat is even and eternal 
 remembrance ? A mere nothing. What then is 
 that about which we ought to employ our 
 serious pains ? This one thing, thoughts just, 
 and acts social, and words which never lie, and 
 a disposition which gladly accepts all that hap- 
 pens, as necessary, as usual, as flowing from i 
 principle and source of the same kind. 
 
 34. Willingly give thyself up to Clotho [one 
 of the fates], allowing her to spin thy thread f 
 into whatever things she pleases. 
 
 35. Everything is only for a day, both that 
 which remembers and that which is remem- 
 bered. 
 
 36. Observe constantly that all things take 
 place by change, and accustom thyself to con- 
 sider that the nature of the Universe loves noth 
 
76 TSOTTQHTS OF THE EMPEBOU 
 
 ing so much as to change the things which are 
 and to make new things like them. For every- 
 thing that exists is in a manner the seed of that 
 which will be. But thou art thinking only of 
 seeds which are cast into the earth or into a 
 womb : but this is a very vulgar notion. 
 
 37. Thou wilt soon die, and thou art not yet 
 Bimple, nor free from perturbations, nor without 
 suspicion of being hurt by external things, nor 
 kindly disposed towards all; nor dost thou yet 
 place wisdom only in acting justly. 
 
 38. Examine men's ruling orincipies, even 
 those of the wise, what kind of things they avoid, 
 and what kind they pursue. 
 
 39. What is evil to thee does not subsist in 
 the ruling principle of another ; nor yet in any 
 turning and mutation of thy corporeal covering. 
 Where is it then ? It is in that part of thee in 
 which subsists the power of forming opinions 
 about evils. Let this power then not form [such] 
 opinions, and all is well. And if that which is 
 nearest to it, the poor body, is cut, burnt, filled 
 with matter and rottenness, nevertheless let the 
 part which forms opinions about these things be 
 quiet, that is, let it judge that nothing is either 
 bad or good which can happen equally to the bad 
 man and the good. For that which happens 
 equally to him who lives contrary to nature and 
 to him who lives according to nature, is neither 
 according to nature nor contra,ry to nature. 
 
 40. Constantly regard the universe as one liv- 
 ing being, having one substance and one soul; 
 and observe how all things have reference to one 
 perception, the perception of this one living be- 
 ing ; and how all things act with one movement; 
 and how all things are the co-operating causes of 
 all things which exist ; observe too the continu- 
 ous spinning of the thread and the contexture of 
 the web. 
 
 41. Thou art a little soul bearing about a 
 ©orpse, as Epictetus used to say. 
 
 42. It is no evil for things to undergo change, 
 
M. AURELITT8 ANTONINUS. 77 
 
 and no good for things to subsist in consequence 
 of change. 
 
 43. Time is like a river made up of the events 
 which happen, and a violent stream ; for as soon 
 as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and 
 another comes in its place, and this will be car- 
 ried away too. 
 
 44. Everything which happens is as familiar 
 and well known as the rose in spring and the fruit 
 in summer ; for such is disease, and death, and 
 calumny, and treachery, and whatever else de- 
 lights fools or vexes them. 
 
 45. In the series of things those which follow 
 are always aptly fitted to those which have gone 
 before ; for this series is not like a mere enumer- 
 ation of disjointed things, which has only a nec- 
 essary sequence, but it is a rational connection : 
 and as all existing things are arranged together 
 harmoniously, so the things which come into 
 existence exhibit no mere succession, but a 
 certain wonderful relationship, (vi. 38. vii. 9.) 
 
 46. Always remember the saying of Heraclitus, 
 that the death of earth is to become water, 
 and the death of water is to beome air, and 
 the death of air is to become fire, and reversely. 
 And think too of him who forgets whither the 
 way leads, and that men quarrel with that with 
 which they are most constantly in communion, 
 the reason which governs the universe ; and the 
 things which they daily meet with seem to them 
 strange : and consider that we ought not to act 
 and speak as if we were asleep, for even in sleep, 
 we seem to act and speak ; and that f we ought 
 not, like children who learn from their parents, 
 simply to act and speak as we have been taught.f 
 
 47. If any god told thee that thou shalt die 
 (o-morrow or certainly on the day after to-morrow 
 thou wouldst not care much whether it was on 
 the third day or on the morrow, unless thou wast 
 in the higLe-«t degree mean-spirited, — for how 
 small is the dlTerence? — so think it no great 
 thing to die after as many years as thou canst 
 name rather than to-morrow. 
 
<"'$ THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 49. Tiiink continually how many physicians 
 'iVQ dead after often contracting their eyebrows 
 over the sick ; and liow many astrologers after 
 predicting with great pretensions the deaths of 
 others; and how many philoscphers after endless 
 discourses on death or immortahty ; how many 
 heroes after killing thousands ; and how many 
 tyrants who have used their power over men's 
 lives with terrible insolence as if they were im- 
 mortal ; and how many cities are entirely dead, 
 so to speak, Helice and Pompeii and Herclanum, 
 and others innumerable. — Add to the reckoning 
 all whom thou hast known, one after anothero 
 One man after burying another has been laid 
 out dead, and another buries him ; and all this 
 in a short time. To conclude, always observe 
 how ephemeral and worthless human things are, 
 and what was yesterday a little mucus, to-morrow 
 will be a mummy or ashes. Pass then througli 
 this little space of time conformably to nature, 
 and end thy journey in content, just as an olive 
 falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who pro- 
 duced it, and thanking the tree on which it 
 grew. 
 
 49. Be like the promontory against which the 
 waves continually break, but it stands firm and 
 tames the fury of the water around it. 
 
 Unhappy am I, because this has happened to 
 me — Not so, but Happy am I, though this has 
 happened to me, because I continue free from 
 pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing 
 the future. For such a thing as this might have 
 happened to every man ; but every man would 
 not have continued free from pain on such an 
 occasion. Why then is that rather a misfortune 
 than this a good fortune ? And dost thou in all 
 cases call that a man's misfortune, which is not a 
 deviation from man's nature? And does a thing 
 seem to thee to be a deviation from man's nature, 
 when it is not contrary to the will of man's nat- 
 ure ? Well, thou knoAvest the will of nature. 
 Will then this which has happened prevent thee 
 
M. A URELl uo AN TONIN US. 79 
 
 from being just, magnanimous, temperate, pru- 
 dent, secure against inconsiderate opinions and 
 falsehood ; will it prevent thee from having mod- 
 esty, freedom, and everything else, by the pres- 
 ence of which man's nature obtains all that is its 
 own? Remember too on every occasion which 
 leads thee to vexation to apply this principle : 
 that this is not a misfortune, but that to bear it 
 nobly is good fortune. 
 
 50. It is a vulgar, but still a useful help towards 
 contempt of death, to pass in review those who 
 have tenaciously stuck to life. What more then 
 have they gained than those who have died early ? 
 Certainly they lie in their tombs somewhere at 
 last, Cadicianus, Fabius, Julianus, Lepidus, or 
 any one else like them, who have carried out 
 many to be buried and then were carried out 
 themselves. Altogether the interval is small 
 [between birth and death] ; and consider with 
 how much trouble, and in company with what 
 sort of people and in what a feeble body this in- 
 terval is laboriously passed. Do not then con- 
 sider life a thing of any value. f For look to the 
 immensity of time behind thee, and to the time 
 which is before thee, another boundless space. 
 In this infinity then what is the difference be- 
 tween him who lives three days and him who 
 lives three generations ? ^ 
 
 51. Always run to the short way ; and the short 
 way is the natural : accordingly say and do 
 everything in conformity with the soundest 
 reason. For such a purpose frees a man from 
 trouble,! and warfare, and all artifice and osten-. 
 tatious display. 
 
 2 An allusion to Homer's Nestor who was living at the 
 war of Troy among the third generation, like old Parr 
 with his hundred and fifty two years, and some others in 
 modern times who have beaten Parr by twenty or thirty 
 years ; and yet they died at last. The word is rpiyeprivlov 
 In Antoninus. Nestor is named rpiyipuv by some writer* ; 
 but here perhaps there is an allusion to Homer's Vepiivios 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEBOR 
 
 In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, 
 let this thought be present — I am rising to the 
 work of a human being. Why then am I dis- 
 satisfied if I am going to do the things for which 
 I exist and for which I was brought into the 
 world ? Or have I been made for this, to lie in 
 the bedclothes and keep myself warm ? — But 
 this is more pleasant — Dost thou exist then to 
 take thy pleasure, and not at all for action or 
 exertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, 
 the little birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees 
 working together to put in order their several 
 parts of the universe ? And art thou unwilling 
 to do the work of a human being, and dost thou 
 not make haste to do that which is according to 
 thy nature ? — But it is necessary to take rest also 
 — It is necessary : however nature has fixed 
 bounds to this too : she has fixed bounds both to 
 eating and drinking, and yet thou goest beyond 
 these bounds, beyond what is sufficient ; yet in 
 thy acts it is not so, but thou stoppest short of 
 what thou canst do. So thou lovest not thyself, 
 for if thou didst, thou wouldst love thy nature 
 and her will. But those who love their several 
 arts exhaust themselves in working at them, un- 
 washed and without food ; but thou vainest thy 
 own nature less than the turner values the turn- 
 ing art, or the dancer the dancing art, or the 
 lover of money values his money, or the vain- 
 glorious man his little glory. And such men, 
 when they have a violent affection to a thing, 
 choose neither to eat nor to sleep rather than to 
 perfect the things which they care for. But are 
 the acts which concern society more vile in thy . 
 •yes and less worthy of thy labor ? 
 
M. AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. 81 
 
 2. How easy it is to repel and to wipe away 
 every impression which is troublesome or unsuit- 
 able, and immediately to be in all tranquillity. 
 
 3. Judge every word and deed which is ac- 
 cording to nature to be fit for thee ; and be not 
 diverted by the blame which follows from any 
 people nor by their words, but if a thing is good 
 to be done or said, do not consider it unworthy 
 of thee. For those persons have their peculiar 
 leading principle and follow their peculiar move- 
 ment ; which things do not thou regard, but go 
 straight on, following thy own nature and the 
 common nature ; and the way of both is one. 
 
 4. I go through the things which happen ac- 
 cording to nature until I shall fall and rest, 
 breathing out my breath into that element out 
 of which I daily draw it in, and falling upon that 
 earth out of which my father collected the seed, 
 and my mother the blood, and my nurse the 
 milk ; out of which during so many years I have 
 been supplied with food and drink ; which bears 
 me when I tread on it and abuse it for so many 
 purposes. 
 
 6. Thou sayest. Men cannot admire the sharp- 
 ness of thy wits — Be it so ; but there are many 
 other things of which thou canst not say, I am 
 not formed for them by nature. Show those 
 qualities then which are altogether in thy power, 
 sincerity, gravity, endurance of labor, aversion 
 to pleasure, contentment with thy portion and 
 with few things, benevolence, frankness, no love 
 of superfluity, freedom from trifling, magnanim- 
 ity. Dost thou not see how many qualities thou 
 art immediately able to exhibit, in which there 
 is no excuse of natural incapacity and unfitness, 
 and yet thou still remainest voluntarily below 
 the mark ? or art thou compelled through being 
 defectively furnished by nature to murmur, and 
 to be stingy, and to flatter, and to find fault with 
 thy poor body, and to try to please men, and to 
 make great display, and to be so restless in thy 
 mind? No by the gods: but thou mightest 
 6 
 
82 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEEOB 
 
 have been delivered from these things long ago. 
 Only if in truth thou canst be charged with 
 being rather slow and dull of comprehension, 
 thou must exert thyself about this also, notneg- 
 lectiug it nor yet taking pleasure in thy dulness. 
 
 6. One man, wdien he has done a service to 
 another, is ready to set it down to his account as 
 a favor conferred. Another is not ready to do 
 this, but still in his own mind lie thinks of the 
 man as his debtor, and he knows what he has 
 done. A third in a manner does not even know 
 what he has done, but he is like a vine which has 
 produced grapes, and seeks for nothing more after 
 it has once produced its proper fruit. As a horse 
 when he has run, a dog when he has tracked the 
 game, a bee when it lias made the honey, so a 
 man when he has done a good act, does not call 
 out for others to come and see, but he goes on to 
 another act, as a vine goes on to produce again, 
 the grapes in season — Must a man then be one 
 of these, who in a manner act thus without ob- 
 serving it ? — Yes — But this very thing is nec- 
 essary, the observation of what a man is doing : 
 for, it may be said, it is chiiracteristic of the 
 social animal to perceive that he is working in a 
 social manner, and indeed to wisli that his social 
 partner also should perceive it — It is true what 
 thou sayest, but thou dost not rightly under- 
 stand what is now said : and for this reason thou 
 wdlt become one of those of \A'hom I spoke before, 
 for even they are misled by a certain show of 
 reason. But if thou wilt choose to understand 
 the meaning of what is said, do not fear that for 
 this reason thou wilt omit any social act. 
 
 7. A prayer of the Athenians; Rain, rain, O 
 dear Zeus, down on the ploughed fields of the 
 Athenians and on the plains. — In truth we 
 ought not to praj'- at all, or v/e ought to pray in 
 this simple and noble fashion. 
 
 8. Just as w^e must understand when it is said, 
 That ^sculapius prescribed to this man horse* 
 exercise, or bathing in cold water or going with* 
 
M. AUBELIU8 ANTONINUS. 83 
 
 out shoes ; so we must understand it when it is 
 said, That the nature of the universe prescribed 
 to this man disease or mutilation or loss or any- 
 tliing else of the kind. For in the first case Pre- 
 scribed means something like this : he prescribed 
 this for this man as a thing adapted to procure 
 liealth ; and in the second case it means, That 
 which happens ^ to [or, suits] every man is fixed 
 in a manner for him suitably to his destiny. For 
 this is what we mean when we say that things are 
 suitable to us, as the workman say of squared 
 stones in walls or the pyramids, that they are 
 suitable, when they fit them to one another in 
 some kind of connection. For there is altogether 
 one fitness [or, harmony]. And as the universe 
 is made up out of all bodies to be such a body as 
 it is, so out of all existing causes necessity [des- 
 tiny] is made up to be such a cause as it is. And 
 even those who are completely ignorant under- 
 stand what I mean, for they say, It [necessity, 
 destiny] brought this to such a person. — This 
 then was brought and this was prescribed to 
 him. Let us then receive these things, as well as 
 those which JEsculapius prescribes. Many as a 
 matter of course even among his prescriptions are 
 disagreeable, but we accept them in the hope of 
 health. Let the perfecting and accomplishment 
 of the things which the common nature judges to 
 be good, be judged by thee to be of the same kind 
 as thy health. And so accept everything which 
 happens, even if it seem disagreeable, because it 
 leads to this, to the health of the universe and to 
 the prosperity and felicity of Zeus [the universe]. 
 For he would not have brought on any man what 
 lie has brought, if it were not useful for the 
 whole. Neither does the nature of anything, 
 whatever it may be, cause anything which is not 
 suitable to that which is directed by it. For two 
 reasons then it is risfht to be content with that 
 
 ^ In this section there is a play on the meaning of 
 
84 TSOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 whicli happens to thee ; the one, because it was 
 done for thee and prescribed for thee, and in a 
 manner had reference to thee, origuially from the 
 most ancient canses spun with thy destiny; and 
 the other, because even that which comes sever- 
 ally to every man is to the power which adminis-' 
 ters the universe a cause of felicity and perfection, 
 nay even of its very continuance. For the in- 
 tegrity of the whole is mutilated, if thou cuttest 
 off anything whatever from the conjunction and 
 the continuity either of the parts or of the causes. 
 And thou dost cut off, as far as it is in thy power, 
 when thou art dissatisfied, and in a manner triest 
 to put anything out of the way. 
 
 9. Be not disgusted, nor discouraged, nor dis- 
 satisfied, if thou dost not succeed in doing every- ' 
 thing according to right principles ; but when thou 
 hast failed, return back again, and be content if 
 the greater part of what thou doest is consistent 
 with man's nature, and love this to which thou re- 
 turnest ; and do not return to philosophy as if 
 she were a master, but act like those who have 
 sore eyes and apply a bit of sponge and egg, or 
 as another applies a plaister, or drenching with 
 water. For thus thou wilt not fail to f obey 
 reason, and thou wilt repose in it. And remem- 
 ber that philosophy requires only the things 
 which thy nature requires ; but thou wowldst 
 have something else which is not according i^ 
 nature — It may be objected, Why what is moi\ 
 agreeable than this [which I am doing] ? — But 
 is not this the very reason why pleasure deceives 
 Us ? And consider if magnanimity, freedom, 
 simplicity, equanimity, piety, are not more 
 agreeable. For what is more agreeable than 
 wisdom itself, when thou thinkest of the security 
 and the happy course of all things which depend 
 on the faculty of understanding and knowledge ? 
 
 10. Things are in such a kind of envelopment 
 that they have seemed to philosophers, not a few 
 nor those common philosophers, altogether un- 
 intelligible ; nay, even to the Stoics themselves 
 
M. A UHMLItTS A KTOmKUS. 8 5 
 
 they seem difficult to understand. And all our 
 assent is changeable ; for where is the man who 
 never changes ? Carr}' thy thoughts then to the 
 objects themselves, and consider how short-lived 
 they are and worthless, and that they may be in 
 the possession of a filthy wretch or a whore or a 
 robber. Then turn to the morals of those who 
 live with thee, and it is hardly possible to endure 
 even the most agreeable of them, to say nothing 
 of a man being hardly able to endure himself. 
 In such darkness then, and dirt and in so con- 
 stant a flux both of substance and of time, and 
 of motion and of things moved, what there is 
 worth being highly prized or even an object of 
 serious pursuit, I cannot imagine. But on the 
 contrary it is a man's duty to comfort himself, 
 and to wait for the natural dissolution and not 
 to be vexed at the delay, but to rest in these 
 principles only : the one, that nothing will hap- 
 pen to me which is not conformable to the nature 
 of the universe ; and the other, that it is in my 
 power never to act contrary to my God and 
 daemon : for there is no man who will compel 
 me to this. 
 
 11. About wnat I am now employing my own 
 soul? On every occasion I must ask myself 
 this question, and inquire, what have I now in 
 this part of me which they call the ruling prin- 
 ciple ? and whose soul have I now ? that of a 
 child, or of a young man, or of a feeble woman, 
 or of a tyrant, or of a domestic animal, or of a 
 wild beast ? 
 
 12. What kind of things those are which ap- 
 pear good to the many, we may learn from this. 
 For if any man should conceive certain things as 
 being really good, such as prudence, temperance, 
 justice, fortitude, he would not after having first 
 conceived these endure to listen to anything! 
 which should not be in harmony with what is 
 really good.f But if a man has first conceived 
 as good the things which appear to the many to 
 be good, he will listen and readily receive aa 
 
§6 THOUGHTS OP THE EMPEUOB. 
 
 very applicable that which was said by the comic 
 writer, f Thus even the many perceive the dif- 
 ference.! For were it not so, this saying would 
 not offend and would not be rejected [in the 
 first case], while we receive it when it is said of 
 wealth, and of the means which further luxury 
 and fame, as said fitly and wittily. Go on then 
 and ask if we should value and think those 
 things to be good, to which after their first con- 
 ception in the mind the words of the comic 
 writer might be aptly applied — that he who has 
 them, through pure abundance has not a place to 
 ease himself in. 
 
 13. I am composed of the formal and the ma- 
 terial ; and neither of them will perish into 
 non-existence, as neither of them came into 
 existence out of non-existence. Every part of 
 me then will be reduced by change into son <3 
 part of the universe, and that again will chang 
 into another part of the universe and so on for- 
 ever. And by consequence of such a change I 
 too exist, and those who begot me, and so on for- 
 ever in the other direction. For nothing hin- 
 ders us from saying so, even if the universe is 
 administered according to definite periods [of 
 revolution]. 
 
 14. Reason and the reasoning art [philosophy] 
 are powers which are sufficiei>t for themselves 
 and for their own works. They move then 
 from a first principle which is their own, and 
 they make their way to the end which is pro- 
 posed to them ; and this is the reason why such 
 acts are named Catorthoseis or right acts, which 
 word signifies that they proceed by the right 
 road. 
 
 15. None of these things ought to be called a 
 man's, which do not belong to a man, as man. 
 They are not required of a man, nor does man's 
 nature promise them, nor are they the means of 
 man's nature attaining its end. Neither then 
 does the end of man lie in these things, nor yet 
 that which aids to the accomplishment of this 
 
M. AUBELIU8 ANTONINUS. 87 
 
 end, and that which aids towards this end is 
 that which is good. Besides, if any of these 
 things did belong to man, it would not be right 
 for a man to despise them and to set himself 
 against them ; nor would a man be worthy of 
 praise who showed that he did not want these 
 things, nor would he who stinted himself in any 
 of tliem be good, if indeed these things were 
 good. But now the more of these things a man 
 deprives himself of, or of other things like them, 
 or even when he is deprived of any of them, the 
 more patiently he endures the loss, just in the 
 same degree he is a better man. 
 
 16. Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such 
 also will be the character of thy mind ; for the 
 -voul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then with a 
 c mtinuous series of such thoughts as these : for 
 instance, that where a man can live, there he can 
 also live well. But he must live in a palace ; 
 — well then, he can also live well in a palace. 
 And again, consider that for whatever purpose 
 each thitig has been constituted, for this it has 
 been constituted, and towards this it is carried ; 
 audits end is in that towards which it is carried ; 
 and where the end is, there also is the advantage 
 and the good of each thing. Now the good for 
 the reasonable animal is society ; for that we 
 are made for society has been shown above. Is it 
 not plain that the inferior exist for the sake of the 
 superior ? but the things whicli liave life are 
 superior to those which have not life, and of those 
 which have life the superior are those which have 
 reason. 
 
 17. To seek what is impossible is madness : 
 and it is impossible that the bad should not do 
 something of this kind. 
 
 18. Nothing happens to any man which he is 
 not formed by nature to bear. The same things 
 happen to another, and either because he does 
 not see that they have happened or because he 
 would show a great spirit he is firm and re- 
 mains unharmed. It is a shame then that ig- 
 
$8 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEBOR 
 
 norance and conceit should be stronger than 
 wisdom. 
 
 19. Things themselves touch not the soul, not 
 in the least degree ; nor have they admission to 
 the soul, nor can they turn or move the soul : but 
 the soul turns and moves itself alone, and what- 
 ever judgments it may think proper to make, such 
 it makes for itself the things which present them- 
 selves to it. 
 
 20. In one respect man is the nearest thing to 
 me, so far as I must do good to men and endure 
 them. But so far as some men make themselves 
 obstacles to my proper acts, man becomes to me 
 one of the things which are indifferent, no less 
 than the sun or wind or a wild beast. Now it is 
 true that these may impede my action, but they 
 are no impediments to my affects and disposition, 
 which have the power of acting conditionally and 
 changing : for the mind converts and changes 
 every hindrance to its activity into an aid ; and so 
 that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance 
 to an act ; and that which is an obstacle on the 
 road helps us on this road. 
 
 21. Reverence that which is best in the uni- 
 verse ; and this is that which makes use of all 
 things and directs all things. And in like man- 
 ner also reverence that which is best in thyself ; 
 and this is of the same kind as that. For in thy- 
 self also, that which makes use of everything 
 else, is this, and thy life is directed by this. 
 
 22. That which does no harm to the state, 
 does no harm to the citizen. In the case of every 
 appearance of harm appl}^ this rule : if the state is 
 not harmed by this, neither am I harmed. But 
 if the state is harmed, thou must not be angry 
 with him who does harm to the state. Show him 
 where his error is.f 
 
 23. Often think of the rapidity with which 
 things pass by and disappear, both the things 
 which are and the things which are produced. 
 For substance is like a river in a continual flow, 
 and the activities of things are iu constant 
 
M. AUHELms ANTONINUS. 89 
 
 change, and the causes work in infinite varieties ; 
 and there is liardlj anything which stands still. 
 And consider this which is near to thee, this 
 boundless abyss of the past and of the future in 
 which all things disappear. How then is he not 
 a fool who is puffed up with such things or 
 plagued about them and makes himself misera- 
 ble ? for they vex him only for a time, and a 
 short time. 
 
 24. Think of the universal substance, of which 
 thou hast a very small portion ; and of universal 
 time, of which a short and indivisible interval 
 has been assigned to thee ; and of that which is 
 fixed by destiny, and how small a part of it 
 thou art. 
 
 25. Does another do me wrong ? Let him look 
 to it. He has his own disposition, his own ac- 
 tivity. I now have what the universal natur^ 
 wills me to have ; and I do what my nature now 
 wills me to do. 
 
 26. Let the part of thy soul which leads and 
 governs be undisturbed by the movements in the 
 flesh whether of pleasure or of j)ain ; and let it 
 not unite with them, but let it circumscribe it- 
 self and limit those affects to their parts. But 
 when these affects rise up to the mind by virtue 
 of that other sympathy that naturally exists in a 
 body which is all one, then thou must not strive 
 to resist the sensation, for it is natural ; but let 
 liot the ruling part of itself add to the sensation 
 llio opinion that it is either good or bad. 
 
 27. Live with the gods. And he does live 
 wi. h. the gods who constantly shows to them that 
 his own soul is satisfied with that which is as- 
 signed to him, and that it does all that the dae- 
 mon wishes, which Zeus hath given to every 
 man for his guardian and guide, a portion of 
 himself. And this is every man's understanding 
 and reason. 
 
 28. Art th.ou angry with him whose arm-pits 
 stink ? art thou angry with him whose mouth 
 smells foul? What good will this anger do 
 
90 THOUGHTS OF TSE EMPEROn 
 
 zhee 7 He has such a mouth, he has such arm- 
 pits : it is necessary that such an emanation 
 must come from such things — But the man has 
 reason, it will be said, and he is able, if "he takes 
 pains, to discover wherein he offends — I wish 
 thee well of thy discovery. Well then, and 
 thou hast reason ; by thy rational faculty stir 
 up his rational faculty ; show him his error, 
 admonish him. For if he listens, thou wilt cure 
 him, and there is no need of anger, [f Neither 
 tragic actor nor whore.f]^ 
 
 29. As thou intendest to live when thou art 
 gone out, . . so it is in thy power to live here. 
 But if men do not permit thee, then get away 
 out of life, yet so as if thou wert suffering no 
 harm. The house is smoky, and I quit it. Why 
 dost thou think that this is any trouble ? But 
 so long as nothing of the kind drives me out, I 
 remain, am free, and no man shall hinder me 
 from doing what I choose ; and I choose to do 
 what is according to the nature of the rational 
 and social animal. 
 
 30. The intelligence of the universe is social. 
 Accordingly it has made the inferior things for 
 the sake of the superior, and it has fitted the su- 
 perior to one another. Thou seest how it has 
 subordinated, co-ordinated and assigned to every- 
 thing its proper portion, and has brought to- 
 gether into concord with one another the things 
 which are the best. 
 
 31. How hast thou behaved hitherto to the 
 gods, thy parents, brethren, children, teachers, 
 to those who looked after thy infancy, to thy 
 friends, kinsfolk, to thy slaves? Consider if 
 
 2 This is imperfect or corrupt, or both. There is also 
 something wrong or incomplete in the beginning of S. 29, 
 where he says c6s i^eXduv ^vv Bmvotj, whicli Gataker 
 translates " as if thou wast about to quit life; " but we can 
 not translate i^ekSdsv in that way. Other translations are 
 not much more satisfactory. I have translated it literally 
 and left it unperfect. 
 
M. AUBELIUS AKTONINUS 91 
 
 thou hast hitherto behaved to all in such a waj 
 that this may be said of thee : — 
 
 Never has wronged a man in deed or word. 
 
 And call to recollection both how many things 
 thou hast passed through, and how many things 
 thou hast been able to endure : and that the his- 
 tory of thy life is now complete and thy service 
 is ended: and how many beautiful things thou 
 hast seen : and how many pleasures and pains 
 thou hast despised ; and how many things called 
 honorable thou hast spurned; and to how many 
 ill-minded folks thou hast shown a kind disposi- 
 tion. 
 
 32. Why do unskilled and ignorant souls dis- 
 turb him who has skill and knowledge? What 
 soul then has skill and knowledge ? That which 
 knows beginning and end, and knows the reason 
 which pervades all substance and through all 
 time by fixed periods [revolutions] administers 
 the universe. 
 
 33. Soon, very soon, thou wilt be ashes, or a 
 skeleton, and either a name or not even a name ; 
 but name is sound and echo. And the things 
 which are much valued in life are empty and 
 rotten and trifling, and [like] little dogs biting 
 one another, and little children quarrelling, 
 laughing, and then straightway wee[)ing. But 
 fidelity and modesty and justice and truth are 
 fled 
 
 Up to Olympus from the wide-spread earth. 
 
 What tlien is there which still detains thee here ? 
 if the objects of sense are easily changed and 
 never stand still, and the organs of perception 
 are dull and easily receive false impressions ; 
 and the poor soul itself is an exhalation from 
 blood. But to have good repute amidst such a 
 world as this is an empty thing. Why then 
 dost thou not wait in tranquillity for thy end, 
 whether it is extinction or removal to ^mother 
 
92 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 state? And until that time comes, what is 
 sufficient? Why, what else than to venerate 
 the gods and bless them, and to do good to men, 
 and to practise tolerance and self-restraint;^ 
 but as to everything which is beyond the limits 
 of the poor flesh and breath, to remember that 
 this is neither thine nor in thy power. 
 
 34. Thou canst pass thy life in an equable 
 flow of happiness, if thou canst go by the right 
 way, and think and act in the right way. These 
 two things are common both to the soul of god 
 and to the soul of man, and to the soul of every 
 rational being, not to be hindered by another ; 
 and to hold good to consist in the disposition to 
 justice and the practice of it, and in this to let 
 thy desire find its termination. 
 
 35. If this is neither my own badness, nor an 
 effect of my own badness, and the common 
 weal is not injured, why am I troubled about 
 it ? and what is the harm to the common weal ? 
 
 36. Do not be carried along inconsiderately 
 by the appearance of things, but give help [to 
 all] according to thy ability and their fitness ; 
 and if they should have sustained loss in matters 
 which are indifferent, do not imagine this to be 
 a damage. For it is a bad habit. But as the 
 old man when he went away asked back his 
 foster-child's top, remembering that it was a top, 
 60 do thou in this case also. 
 
 When thou art calling out on the Rostra, hast 
 thou forgotten man, what these things are? — 
 Yes ; but they are objects of great concern to 
 these people — Wilt thou too then be made a 
 fool for these things ? — I was once a fortunate 
 man, but I lost it, I know not how. — But for- 
 tunate means that a man has assigned to him- 
 self a good fortune : — and a good fortune is good 
 
 ' This is the Stoic precept ivixov Ka.1 6.iri\j/ov. The 
 first part teaches us to be content with men and things as 
 they are. The second part teaches lis the virtua of self- 
 testraint, or the government of our passions. 
 
if. AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. 93 
 
 disposition of the soul, good emotions, good ac- 
 tions.* 
 
 * This section is unintelligible. Many of the words may 
 be corrupt, and the general purport of the section cannot be 
 discovered. Perhaps several things have been improperly 
 joined in one section. I have translated it nearly literally. 
 Different translators give the section a different turn, and 
 the critics have tried to mend what they cannot understand. 
 
94 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 VI. 
 
 The substance of the universe is obedient 
 and compliant; and the reason which governs it 
 has in itself no cause for doing evil, for it has 
 no malice, nor does it do evil to anything, nor is 
 anything harmed by it. But all things are 
 made and perfected according to this reason. 
 
 2. Let it make no difference to thee Avhether 
 thou art cold or warm, if thou art doing thy 
 duty ; and whether thou art drowsy or satisfied 
 with sleep ; and whether ill-spoken of or praised ; 
 and whether dying or doing something else. 
 For it is one of the acts of life, this act by which 
 we die : it is sufficient then in this act also to do 
 well what we have in hand.- 
 
 3. Look within. Let neither the peculiar 
 quality of anything nor its value escape thee. 
 
 4. All existing things soon change, and they 
 will either be reduced to vapor, if indeed all 
 substance is one, or they will be dispersed. 
 
 5. The reason which governs knows what its 
 own disposition is, and what it does, and on 
 what material it works. 
 
 6. The best way of avenging thyself is not to 
 become like the wrong-doer. 
 
 7. Take pleasure in one thing and rest in it, 
 in passing from one social act to another social 
 act, thinking of god. 
 
 8. The ruling principle is that which rouses 
 and turns itself, and while it makes itself such 
 as it is and such as it wills to be, it also makes 
 everything which happens appear to itself to be 
 such as it wills. 
 
 9. In conformity to the nature of the universe 
 every single thing is accomplished, for certainly 
 it is not in conformity to any other nature that 
 
M. AvuELWs ANTonmus. 95 
 
 each thing is accomplished, either a nature which 
 externally comprehends this, or a nature which 
 is comprehended within this nature, or a nature 
 external and independent of this. (xi. 1, VI. 
 40, VIII. 50.) 
 
 10. The universe is either a confusion, and a 
 mutual involution of things, and a dispersion ,* 
 or it is unity and order and providence. If then 
 it is the former, why do I desire to tarry in a 
 fortuitous combination of things and such a dis- 
 order ? and why do I care about anything else 
 than how I shall at last become earth ? and why 
 am I disturbed, for the dispersion of my ele- 
 ments will happen whatever I do. But if the 
 other supposition is true, I venerate, and I am 
 firm, and I trust in him who governs, (iv. 27.) 
 
 11. When thou hast been compelled by cir- 
 cumstances to be disturbed in a manner, quickly 
 return to thyself and do not continue out of 
 tune longer than the compulsion lasts ; for thou 
 wilt have more mastery over the harmony by 
 continually recurring to it. 
 
 12. If thou hadst a step-mother and a mother 
 at the same time, thou wouldst be dutiful to thy 
 step-mother, but still thou wouldst constantly 
 return to thy mother. Let the court and philo- 
 sophy now be to thee step-mother and mother: 
 return to philosophy frequently and repose in 
 her, through whom what thou meetest with in 
 the court appears to thee tolerable and thou ap- 
 pearest tolerable in the court. 
 
 13. When we have meat before us and such 
 eatables, we receive the impression, that this is 
 the dead body of a fish, and this is the dead body 
 of a bird or of a pig ; and again, that this Faler- 
 nian is only a little grape juice, and this purple 
 robe some sheeps' wool dyed with the blood of a 
 shell-fish : such then are these impressions, and 
 they reach the things themselves and penetrate 
 them, and so we see what kind of things they 
 are. Just in the same way ought we to act all 
 through life, and where there are things which 
 
96 TBOtTGBTS OF TBE ^MPEUOU 
 
 appear most worthy of our approbation, we 
 ought to lay them bare and look at their worth- 
 lessness and strip them of all the words by 
 which they are exalted. For outward show is a 
 wonderful perverter of the reason, and when 
 thou art most sure that thou art employed about 
 things worth thy pains, it is then that it cheats 
 thee most. Consider then what Crates says of 
 Xenocrates himself. 
 
 14. Most of the things which the multitude 
 admire are referred to objects of the most gen- 
 eral kind, those which are held together by co- 
 hesion or natural organization, such as stones, 
 wood, fig-trees, vines, olives. But those which 
 are admired by men, who are a little more rea- 
 sonable, are referred to the things which are 
 held to getherby a living principle, as flocks, 
 herds. Those which are admired by men who 
 are still more instructed are the things which 
 are held together by a rational soul, not how- 
 ever a universal soul, but rational so far as it is 
 a soul skilled in some art, or expert in some 
 other way, or simply rational so far as the pos- 
 sessing of a number of slaves. But he who values 
 a rational soul, a soul universal and fitted for 
 political life, regards nothing else except this ; 
 and above all things he keeps his soul in a con- 
 dition and in an activity conformable to reason 
 and social life, and he co-operates to this end 
 with those who are of the same kind as himself. 
 
 15. Some things are hurrying into existence, 
 and others are hurrying out of it; and of that 
 which is coming into existence part is already 
 extinguished. Motions and changes are con- 
 tinually renewing the world, just as the un- 
 interrupted course of time is always renewing 
 the infinite duration of ages. In this flowing 
 stream then, on which there is no abiding, what 
 is there of the things which hurry by on what 
 a man would set a high price ? It would be 
 just as if a man should fall in love with one of 
 she sparrows which fly by, but it has already; 
 
af. ATTEWLins ANTomjuttrs. 97 
 
 past out of sight. Something of this kind tM 
 the very life of every man, like the exhalation 
 of the blood and the respiration of the air. For 
 such as it is to have once drawn in the air and 
 to have given it back, which we do every mo- 
 ment, just the same is it with the whole respi- 
 ratory power, which thou didst receive at thy 
 birth yesterday and the day before, to give 
 it back to the element from which thou didst 
 first draw it. 
 
 16. Neither is transpiration, as in plants, a 
 thing to be valued, nor respiration, as in domes- 
 ticated animals and wild beasts, nor the receiv- 
 ing of impressions by the appearances of things, 
 nor being moved by desires as puppets by 
 strings, nor assembling in herds, nor being 
 nourished by food ; for this is just like the act 
 of separating and parting with the useless part 
 of our food. What then is worth being valued ? 
 To be received with clapping of hands ? No. 
 Neither must we value the clapping of tongues, 
 for the praise which comes from the many 
 is a clapping of tongues. Suppose then that 
 thou hast given up this worthless thing called 
 fame, what remains that is worth valuing ? 
 This in my opinion, to move thyself and to re- 
 strain thyself in conformity to thy proper con- 
 stitution, to which end all employments lead 
 and all arts. For every art aims at this, that 
 the thing which has been made should be adapt- 
 ed to the work for which it has been made ; 
 and both the vine-planter who looks after the 
 vine, and the horse-breaker, and he who trains 
 the dog, seek this end. But the education and 
 the teaching of youth aim at something. In. 
 this then is the value of the education and the 
 teaching. And if this is well, thou wilt not 
 seek anything else. Wilt thou not cease to 
 value many other things too ? Then thou "wilt 
 be neither free, nor sufficient for thy own hap- 
 piness, nor without passion. For of necessity 
 thou must be envious, jealous, and suspicioQ* 
 
^ THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEBOB 
 
 of those who can take away those things, and 
 plot against those who have that which is valued 
 by thee. Of necessity a man must be alto- 
 gether in a state of perturbation who wants any 
 of these things ; and besides, he must often find 
 fault with the gods. Bat to reverence and 
 honor thy own mind will make thee content 
 with thyself, and in harmony with society, and 
 in agreement with the gods, that is, praising all 
 that they give and have ordered. 
 
 17. Above, below, all around are the move- 
 ments of the elements. But the motion of 
 virtue is in none of these : it is something more 
 divine, and advancing by a way hardly observ- 
 ed it goes happily on its road. 
 
 18. How strangely men act. They will not 
 praise those who are living at the same time 
 and living with themselves; but to be them- 
 selves praised by posterity, by those whom 
 they have never seen nor ever will see, this 
 they set much value on. But this is very 
 much the same as if thou shouldst be grieved 
 because those who have lived before thee did 
 not praise thee. 
 
 19. If a thing is difficult to be accomplished 
 by thyself, do not think that it is impossible for 
 a man : but if anything is possible for a man and 
 conformable to his nature, think that this can 
 be attained by thyself too. 
 
 20. In the gymnastic exercises suppose that a 
 man has torn thee with his nails, and by dashing 
 against thy head has inflicted a wound. Well, 
 we neither show any signs of vexation, nor are 
 we offended, nor do we suspect him afterwards 
 as a treacherous fellow ; and yet we are on our 
 guard against him, not however as an enemy, 
 nor yet with suspicion, but we quietly get out 
 of his way. Something like this let thy behavior 
 be in all the other parts of life ; let us overlook 
 many things in those who are like antagonists 
 in the gymnasium. For it is in our pov/er, as I 
 :said, to get out of the way, and to have no sus- 
 picion nor hatred. 
 
M. AURELIUS ANrONi:-TUS. ^9 
 
 21. If any man is able to convince me and 
 show me that I do not think or act right, I will 
 gladly change ; for I seek the truth by which no 
 man was ever injured. But he is injured who 
 abides in his error and ignorance. 
 
 22. I do my duty : other things trouble me 
 not ; for they are either things without life, or 
 things without reason, or things that liave 
 rambled and know not the way. 
 
 23. As to the animals which have no reason 
 and generally all things and objects do thou, 
 since thou hast reason and they have none, make 
 use of them with a generous and liberal spirit. 
 But towards human beings, as they have reason, 
 behave in a social spirit. And on all occasions 
 call on the gods, and do not perplex thyself 
 about the length of time in which thou shalt 
 do this ; for even three hours so spent are suf- 
 ficient. 
 
 24. Alexander the Macedonian and his groom 
 by death were brought to the same state ; for 
 either they were received among the same semi- 
 nal principles of the universe, or they were alike 
 dispersed among the atoms. 
 
 25. Consider how many things in the same in- 
 divisible time take place in each of us, things 
 which concern the body and things which con- 
 cern the soul : and so thou wilt not wonder if 
 many more things, or rather all things which 
 come into existence in that which is the one and 
 all, which we call Cosmos, exist in it at the same 
 time. 
 
 26. If any man should propose to thee the 
 question, how the name Antoninus is written, 
 wouldst thou with a straining of the voice utter 
 each letter ? What then if they grow angry, wilt 
 thou be angry too? Wilt thou not go on with 
 composure and number every letter? Just so 
 then in this life also remember that every duty 
 is made up of certain parts. These it is thy duty 
 to observe, and without being disturbed or show- 
 ing anger towards those who are angry with theQ 
 
100 T30UGHTS OF THE EMPEBOR. 
 
 to go on thy way and finisli that which is set be- 
 fore thee. 
 
 27. How cruel it is not to allow men to strive 
 after the things which appear to them to be suit- 
 able to their nature and profitable ! And yet in 
 a manner thou dost not allow them to do this, 
 when thou art vexed because they do wrong. 
 For they are certainly moved towards things 
 because they suppose them to be suitable to their 
 nature and profitable to them — But it is not so 
 — Teach them then, and show them without be- 
 ing angry. 
 
 28. Death is a cessation of the impressions 
 through the senses, and of the pulling of the 
 strings which move the appetites, and of the dis- 
 cursive movements of the thoughts, and of the 
 service to the flesh. 
 
 29. It is a shame for the soul to be. first to 
 give way in this life, when thy body does not 
 give way. 
 
 30. Take care that thou art not made into a 
 Caesar, that thou art not dyed with this dye ; for 
 such things happen. Keep thyself then simple, 
 good, pure, serious, free from affectation, a friend 
 of justice, a worshipper of the gods, kind, affec- 
 tionate, strenuous in all proper acts. Strive to 
 continue to be such as philosophy wished to make 
 thee. Reverence the gods, and help men. Short 
 is life. There is only one fruit of this terrene 
 life, a pious disposition and social acts. Do 
 everything as a disciple of Antoninus. Remem- 
 ber his constancy in every act which was con- 
 formable to reason, and his evenness in all things, 
 and his piety, and the serenity of his counte- 
 nance, and his sweetness, and his disregard of 
 empty fame, and his efforts to understand things ; 
 and how he would never let anything pass with- 
 out having first most carefully examined it and 
 clearly understood it ; and how he bore with 
 those who blamed him unjustly without blaming 
 them in return ; how he did nothing in a hurry ; 
 ^nd how h^ listened not to calumnies, and how: I 
 
M. AURELIUS ANTONIJHU8, , ; , f 
 
 exact an examiner of manners and actions lie 
 was ; and not given to reproach people, nor 
 timid, nor suspicious, nor a sophist ; and with 
 how little he was satisfied, such as lodging, bed, 
 dress, food, servants ; and how laborious and 
 patient ; and how he was able on account of his 
 sparing diet to hold out to the evening, not even 
 requiring to relieve himself by any evacuations 
 except at the usual hour ; and his firmness and 
 uniformity in his friendships ; and how he toler- 
 ated freedom of speech in those who opposed 
 his opinions ; and the pleasure that he had when 
 any man showed him anything better ; and how 
 pious he was without superstition. Imitate all 
 this that thou mayest have as good a conscience, 
 when thy last hour comes, as he had. (i. 16.) 
 
 31. Return to thy sober senses and call thy- 
 self back ; and when thou hast roused thyself 
 from sleep and hast perceived that they were 
 only dreams which troubled thee, now in thy 
 waking hours look at these [the things about 
 thee] as thou didst look at those [the dreams]. 
 
 82. I consist of a little body and a soul. Now 
 to this little body all things are indifferent, for 
 it is notable to perceive difference. But to the 
 understanding tiese things only are indifferent, 
 which are not the works of its own activity. But 
 whatever things are the works of its own activ- 
 ity, all these are in its power. And of these 
 however only ohose which are done with ref- 
 erence to the prssent ; for as to the future and 
 the past activities of the mind, even these are 
 for the present indifferent. 
 
 33. Neither tl e labor which the hand does nor 
 that of the foot is contrary to nature, so long as 
 the foot does th3 foot's work and the hand the 
 hand's. So the i neither to a man as a man is 
 his labor contrary to nature, so long as it does 
 the things of a man. But if the labor is not 
 contrary to his nature, neither is it an evil to 
 him. 
 
 34. How many pleasures have been enjoyed 
 by robbers, patricides, tyrants. 
 
102 TSOUQHTS OF THE SMPEBOE. 
 
 85. Dost thou not see how the handicraftsmen 
 accommodate themselves up to a certain point 
 to those who are not skilled in their craft,— 
 nevertheless they cling to the reason [the prin- 
 ciples] of their art and do not endure to depart 
 from it ? Is it not strange if the architect and 
 the physician shall have more respect to the 
 reason [the principles] of their own arts than 
 man to his own reason, which is common to 
 him and the gods. 
 
 36. Asia, Europe are corners of the universe : 
 all the sea a drop in the universe ; Athos a little 
 clod of the universe : all the present time is a 
 point in eternity. All things are little, change- 
 able, perishable. All things come from thence, 
 from that universal ruling power either directly 
 proceeding or by way of consequence. And 
 accordingly the lion's gaping jaws, and that 
 which is poisonous, and every harmful thing, as 
 a thorn, as mud, are after-products of the grand 
 and beautiful. Do not then imagine that they 
 
 . are of another kind from that which thou dost 
 renerate, but form a just opinion of the source 
 of all. 
 
 37. He who has seen present things has seen 
 all, both everything which has taken place from 
 all eternity and everything which will be for 
 time without end ; for all are of one kin and of 
 one form. 
 
 38. Frequently consider the connection of all 
 things in the universe and their relation to one 
 another. For in a manner all things are impli- 
 cated with one another, and all in this way are 
 friendly to one another ; for one thing comes in 
 order after another, and this is by virtue of thef 
 active movement and mutual conspiration and 
 the unity of the substances. 
 
 39. Adapt thyself to the things with which thy j 
 lot has been cast: and the men among whom I 
 thou hast received thy portion, love them, but dp] 
 it truly [sincerely]. 
 
 40. Everjr instrument, tool, vessel, if it does I 
 
M. AtlBELinS AKTONmCSL 108 
 
 that for which it has been made, is well and yet 
 he who made it is not there. But in the things 
 which are held together by nature there is within 
 and there abides in them the power which made 
 them ; wherefore the more it is fit to reverence 
 this power, and to think, that, if thou dost live 
 and act according to its will, everything in thee 
 is in conformity to intelligence. And thus also 
 in the universe, the things which belong to it are 
 in conformity to intelligence. 
 
 41. Whatever of the things which are not 
 within thy power thou shalt suppose to be good 
 for thee or evil, it must of necessity be that, if 
 such a bad thing befall thee or the loss of such a 
 good thing, thou wilt blame the gods, and hate 
 men too, those who are the cause of the misfor- 
 tune or the loss, or those who are suspected of 
 being likely to be the cause ; and indeed we do 
 much injustice, because we make a difference be- 
 tween these things [because we do not regard 
 these things as indifferent]. But if we judge 
 only those things which are in our power to be 
 good or bad, there remains no reason either for 
 finding fault with god or standing in a hostile 
 attitude to man. 
 
 42. We are all working together in one end, 
 some with knowledge and design, and othera 
 without knowing what they do ; as men also 
 when they are asleep, of whom it is Heraclitus, 
 I think, who says that they are laborers and co- 
 operators in the things which take place in the 
 universe. But men co-operate after different 
 fashions : and even those co-operate abundantly, 
 who find fault with what happens and those 
 who try to oppose it and to hinder it; for the 
 universe had need even of such men as these. 
 It remains then for thee to understand among 
 what kind of workmen thou placest thyself ; for 
 he who rules all things will certainly make a 
 right use of thee, and he will receive thee among 
 some part of the co-operators and of those whose 
 labors conduce to one end. But be not thou stict 
 
104 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPESOlt, 
 
 a part as the mean and ridiculous verse in the 
 plaj, which Clirjsippus speaks of. 
 
 43. Does the sun undertake to do the work of 
 the rain, or iEsculapius the work of the Fruit- 
 bearer [the earth] ? And how is it with respect 
 to each of the stars, are they not different and 
 yet they work together to the same end ? 
 
 44. If the gods have determined about me 
 and about the things which must happen to me, 
 they have determined well, for it is not easy 
 even to imagine a deity without forethought ; ; 
 and as to doing me harm, why should they have 
 any desire towards that? for what advantage 
 would result to them from this or to the whole, 
 which is the special object of their providence ? 
 But if they have not determined about me indi- 
 vidually, they have certainly determined about 
 the whole at least, and the things which happen 
 by way of sequence in this general arrangement 
 I ought to accept with pleasure and to be content 
 with them. But if they determine about noth- 
 ing — which it is wicked to believe, or if we do 
 believe it, let us neither sacrifice nor pray nor 
 swear by them nor do anything else which we 
 do as if the gods were present and lived with us 
 — but if however the gods determine about 
 none of the things which concern us, I am able 
 to determine about myself, and I can inquire 
 about that which is useful ; and that is useful 
 to every man which is conformable to his own 
 constitution and nature. But my nature is ra- 
 tional and social ; and my city and country, so 
 far as I am Antoninus, is Rome, but so far as I 
 am a man, it is the world. The things then 
 which are useful to these cities are alone useful 
 to me. 
 
 45. Whatever happens to every man, this is 
 for the interest of the universal: this might be 
 sufficient. But further thou wilt observe this 
 also as a general truth, if thou dost observe, 
 that whatever is profitable to any man is profit- 
 able also to other men. But let the word prof- 
 
3f. AUBELIUS AlfTOmNUS. I0& 
 
 Itable be taken here in the common sense as said 
 of things of the middle kind [neither good nor 
 bad.] 
 
 46. As it happens to thee in the amphithea- 
 tre and such phices, that the continual sight of 
 the same things and the uniformity make the 
 spectacle wearisome, so it is in the whole of life ; 
 for all things above, below, are the same and 
 from the same. How long then? 
 
 47. Think continually that all kinds of men 
 and of all kinds of pursuits and of all nations 
 are dead, so that thy thoughts come down even 
 to Philistion and Phoebus and Origanion. Now 
 turn thy thoughts to the other kinds [of men.] 
 To that place then we must remove, where 
 there are so many great orators, and so many 
 noble philosophers, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Soc- 
 rates ; so many heroes of former days, and so 
 many generals after them, and tyrants ; besides 
 tliese, Eudoxus, Hi23parchus, Archimedes, and 
 other men of acute natural talents, great minds, 
 lovers of labor, versatile, confident, mockers 
 even of the perishable and ephemeral life of 
 man, as Menippus and such as are like him. As 
 to all these consider that they have long been 
 in the dust. What harm then is this to them ; 
 and what to those whose names are altogether 
 unknown ? One tiling here is worth a great 
 deal, to pass thy life in truth and justice, with a 
 benevolent disposition even to liars and unjust 
 men. 
 
 48. When thou wishest to delight thyself, 
 think of the virtues of those who live with thee ; 
 for instance, the activity of one, and the mod- 
 esty of another, and the liberality of a third, 
 and some other good quality of a fourth. For 
 nothing delights so much as the examples of the 
 virtues, when they are exhibited in the morals 
 cf those who live with us and present them- 
 selves in abundance, as far as is possible. Where- 
 fore we must keep them before us. 
 
 49. Art thou dissatisfied because thou weigli- 
 
2©0 Tff9UG3T3 Oif THE SMPMSOB 
 
 est only so many litrae and not three hundred ? 
 Be not dissatisfied then that thou must live only 
 60 many yeai's and not more ; for as thou art 
 satisfied with the amount of substance which 
 has been assigned to thee, so be content with 
 the time. 
 
 50. Let us try to persuade them [men]. But 
 act even against their will, when the principles 
 of justice lead that way. If however any man 
 by using force stands in thy way, betake thy- 
 self to contentment and tranquillity, and at the 
 same time employ the hindrance towards the 
 exercise of some other virtue ; and remember 
 that thy attempt was with a reservation [condi- 
 tionally], that thou didst not desire to do impos- 
 sibilities. What then didst thou desire ? — Some 
 such effort as this — But thou attainest thy ob- 
 ject, if the things to which thou wast moved are 
 [not] accomplished.! 
 
 51. He who loves fame considers another 
 man's activity to be his own good; and he M^ho 
 loves pleasure, hi§ own sensations ; but he who 
 has understanding, considers his own acts to be 
 his own good. 
 
 52. It is in our power to have no opinion about 
 a thing, and not to be disturbed in our soul ; for 
 things themselves have no natural power to form 
 our judgments. 
 
 53. Accustom thyself to attend carefully to 
 what is said by another, and as much as it is pos- 
 sible, be in the speaker's mind. 
 
 54. That which is not good for the swarm, 
 neither is it good for the bee. 
 
 55. If sailors abused the helmsman or the sick 
 the doctor, would they listen to anybody else ; or 
 how could the helmsman secure the safety of 
 those in the ship or the doctor the health of those 
 whom he attends ? 
 
 56. How many together with whom I came 
 ■into the world are abeady gone out of it. 
 
 57. To the jaundiced honey tastes bitter, and 
 ^to those bitten by mad dogs water causes fe^ ; 
 
 
and to little children the ball is a fine thing. 
 Why then am I angry ? Dost thou think that a 
 false opinion has less power than the bile in the 
 jaundiced or the poison in him who is bitten by a 
 mad dog ? 
 
 68. No man will hinder thee from living ac- 
 cording to the reason of thy own nature : nothing 
 will happen to thee contrary to the reason of the 
 universal nature. 
 
 59. What kind of people are those whom men 
 wish to please, and for what object, and by what 
 kind of acts ? How soon will time cover aU 
 things, and how many it has covered already. 
 
i^ TBOTJOETS OF THE EMPEROU. 
 
 VII. 
 
 What is badness ? It is that wliicli thou hast 
 often seen. And on the occasion of everything 
 which happens keep this in mind, that it is that 
 which thou hast often seen. Everywhere up 
 and down thou Avilt find tlie same things, with 
 which the okl histories are filled, those of the 
 middle ages and those of our own day ; with which 
 cities and houses are filled now. There is noth- 
 ing new : all things are both familiar and short- 
 lived. 
 
 2. How can our principles become dead, unless 
 the impressions [thoughts] which corespond to 
 them are extinguished? But it is in thy power 
 continuously to fan these thoughts into a flame. 
 I can have that opinion about anything which I 
 ought to have. If I can, why am I disturbed? 
 The things which are external to my mind have 
 no relation at all to my mind. — Let this be the 
 state of thy affects, and thoustandest erect. To 
 recover thy life is in thy power. Look at things 
 again as thou didst use to look at them ; for iu 
 this consists the recovery of thy life. 
 
 3. The idle business of shew, plays on the 
 stage, flocks of sheep, herds, exercises with spears, 
 a bone cast to little dogs, a bit of bread into fish- 
 ponds, laborings of ants and burden-carrying, 
 runnings about of frightened little mice, puppets 
 pulled by strings — [all alike]. It is thy duty 
 then in the midst of such thin;^s to show good 
 humor and not a proud air ; to understand how- 
 ever that every man is worth just so much as the 
 things are worth about which he busies himself. 
 
 4. In discourse thou must {attend to what is 
 HAid, and in every movement thou must observe 
 
M. AtTEELIUS AXTOmNUS. 109 
 
 ■what is doing. And in the one thou should st see 
 immediately to what end it refers, but in thft 
 other watch carefully what is the thing signified. 
 
 5. Is ray understanding sufficient for this or 
 not ? If it is sufficient, I use it for the work as 
 an instrument given by the universal nature. 
 But if it is not sufficient, then either I retire from 
 the work and give way to him who is able to do 
 it better, unless there be some reason why I ought 
 not to do so ; or I do it as well as I can, taking 
 to help me the man who with the aid of my rul- 
 ing principle can do what is now fit and useful 
 for the general good. For whatsoever either by 
 myself or with another I can do, ought to be di- 
 rected to this only, to that which is useful and 
 well suited to society. 
 
 6. How many after being celebrated by fame 
 have been given up to oblivion ; and how many 
 who have celebrated the fame of others have 
 long been dead. 
 
 7. Be not ashamed to be helped ; for it is thy 
 business to do thy duty like a soldier in the as- 
 sault on a town. How then, if being lame thou 
 canst not mount up on the battlements alone, 
 but with the help of another it is possible? 
 
 8. Let not future things disturb thee, for thou 
 wilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, hav- 
 ing with thee the same reason which now thou 
 usest for present things. 
 
 9. All things are implicated with one another, 
 and the bond is holy ; and there is hardly any- 
 thing unconnected with any other thing. For 
 things have been co-ordinated, and they com- 
 bine to form the same universe [order]. For 
 there is one universe made up of all things, and 
 one god who pervades all things, and one sub- 
 stance, and one law, [one] common reason in all 
 intelligent animals, and one truth ; if, indeed, 
 there is also one perfection for all animals which 
 are of the same stock and participate in the 
 same reason. 
 
 10. Everything material soon disapjpewi in 
 
110 THOUGBTS OF TSE EMPEBOE 
 
 the substance of the whole; and everything 
 formal [causal] is very soon taken back into the 
 universal reason ; and the memory of everything 
 is very soon overwhelmed in time. 
 
 11. To the rational animal the same act is 
 according to nature and according to reason. 
 
 12. Be thou erect, or be made erect, (ill. 5.) 
 
 13. Just as it is with the members in those 
 bodies which are united in one, so it is with ra- 
 tional beings Avhich exist separate, for they have 
 been constituted for one co-operation. And the 
 perception of this will be more apparent to thee, 
 if thou often say est to thyself that I am a mem- 
 ber [jneXos] of the system of rational beings. 
 But if [using the letter r~\ thou sayest that thou 
 art a part [«epos], thou dost not yet love men 
 from thy heart; beneficence does not yet de- 
 light thee for its own sake ; ^ thou still doest it 
 barely as a thing of propriety, and not yet as 
 doing good to thyself. 
 
 14. Let there fall externally what will on the 
 parts which can feel the effects of this fall. For 
 those parts which have felt will complain, if 
 they choose. But I, unless I think that what 
 has happened is an evil, am not injured. And 
 it is in my power not to think so. 
 
 15. Whatever any one does or sa3^s, I must be 
 good, just as if the gold, or the emerald or „the 
 purple were always saying this, Whatever any 
 one does or says, I must be emerald and keep my 
 color. 
 
 16. The ruling faculty does not disturb itself, 
 I mean, does not frighten itself or cause itself 
 pain.f But if any one else can frighten or pain 
 it, let him do so. For the faculty itself will not 
 by its own opinion turn itself into such ways. 
 Let the body itself take care, if it can, that it 
 suffer nothing, and let it speak, if it suffers, But 
 the soul itself, that which is subject to fear, to 
 
 1 I have used Gataker's conjecture KaToKrjKTiKuis instead 
 of the common reading mraXriimKibs : compare iv, 20; 
 
M. AURELIU 8 ANTONINUS. Ill 
 
 pain, wliich has completely the power of forming 
 an opmion about these things, will suffer no- 
 thing, for it will never deviate f into such a 
 judgment. The leading principle in itself wants 
 nothing, unless it makes a want for itself; and 
 therefore it is both free from perturbation and 
 unimpeded, if it does not disturb and impede it- 
 self. 
 
 17. Eudaemonia [ happiness ] is a good 
 daemon, or a good thing. What then art thou 
 doing here, O imagination ? go away, I intreat 
 thee by the gods, as thou didst come, for I want 
 thee not. But thou art come according to thy old 
 fashion. I am not angry with thee: only go away. 
 
 18. Is any man afraid of change ? Why what 
 can take place without change ? What then is 
 more pleasing or more suitable to the universal 
 nature ? And canst thou take a bath unless the 
 food undergoes a change ? and canst thou be 
 nourished, unless the food undergoes a change ? 
 And can anything else that is useful be accom- 
 plished without change ? Dost thou not see then 
 that for thyself also to change is just the sa,me, 
 and equally necessary for the universal nature ? 
 
 19. Through the universal substance as through 
 a furious torrent all bodies are carried, being by 
 their nature united with and co-operating with 
 the whole, as the parts of our body with one an- 
 other. How many a Chrysippus, how many a 
 Socrates, how many aii Epictetus has time already 
 swallowed up ? And let the same thought occur 
 to thee with reference to every man and thing. 
 
 20. One thing only troubles me lest I should 
 do something which the constitution of man does 
 n^)t allow, or in the way which it does not allow, 
 or what it does not allow now. 
 
 21 Near is thy forgetfulness of all things ; 
 and near the forgetfulness of thee by all. 
 
 22. It is peculiar to men to love even those 
 who do wrong. And this happens, if when they 
 do wrong it occurs to thee that they are Idns- 
 men, and that they do wrong through iguoranoa 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 IX% TSOUQHTS OF THE EMPEUOE 
 
 and unintentionally, and that soon both of you 
 will die ; and above all, that the wrong-doer 2ias 
 done thee no harm, for he has not made thy 
 ruling faculty worse than it was before. 
 
 23. The universal nature out of the universal 
 substance, as if it were wax, now moulds a 
 horse, and when it has broken this up, it uses 
 the material for a tree, then for a man, then for 
 something else ; and each of these things 
 subsists for a very short time. But it is no 
 hardship for the vessel to be broken up, just as 
 there was none in its being fastened together. 
 
 24. A scowling look is altogether unnatural ; 
 when it is often assumed,^ the result is that all 
 comeliness dies away, and at last is so com- 
 pletely extinguished that it cannot be again 
 lighted up at all. Try to conclude from this 
 very fact that it is contrary to reason. For if 
 even the perception of doing wrong shall depart, 
 what reason is there for living any longer ? 
 
 25. Nature which governs the whole will 
 soon change all tilings which thou seest, and 
 out of their substance will make other things, 
 and again other things from the substance of 
 them, in order that the world may be ever new. 
 
 26. When a man has done thee any wrong, 
 immediately consider with what opinion about 
 good or evil he has done wrong. For when 
 thou has seen this, thou wilt pit}^ him, and wilt 
 neither wonder nor be angry. For either thou 
 thyself thinkest the same thing to be good that 
 he does or another thing of the same kind. 
 It is thy duty then to pardon him. But if thou 
 dost not think such things to be good or evil, 
 thou wilt more readily be well disposed to him 
 who is in error. 
 
 2T. Think not so much of what thou hast not 
 as of what thou hast : but of the things which 
 thou hast select the best, and then reflect 
 how eagerly they would have been sought, if 
 thou hadst them not. At the same time how- 
 * This is corrupt. 
 
M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 113 
 
 ever take care that thou dost not through being 
 so pleased with them accustom thyself to over- 
 value them, so as to be disturbed if ever thou 
 shouldst not have them. 
 
 28. Retire into thyself. The rational princi- 
 ple which rules has this nature, that it is con- 
 tent with itself when it does what is just, and 
 so secures tranquillity. 
 
 29. Wipe out the imagination. • Stop the pull- 
 ing of the strings. Confine thyself to the pres- 
 ent. Understand well what happens either to 
 thee or to another. Divide and distribute every 
 object into the causal [formal] and the material. 
 Think of thy last hour. Let the wrong which 
 is done by a man stay there where the wrong 
 was done. 
 
 30. Direct thy attention to what is said. Let 
 thy understanding enter into the things that 
 are doing and the things which do them. 
 (VII. 4.) 
 
 31. Adorn thyself with simplicity and modesty 
 and with indifference towards the things which 
 lie between virtue and vice. Love mankind. 
 Follow god. The poet says that Law rules all 
 — f And it is enough to remember that law rules 
 all.f 3_ 
 
 32. About death : whether it is a dispersion, 
 or a resolution into atoms, or annihilation, it is 
 either extinction or change. 
 
 33. About pain : the pain which is intolerable 
 carries us off ; but that Avhich lasts a long time 
 is tolerable ; and the mind maintains its own 
 tranquillity by retiring into itself,f and the 
 ruling faculty is not made worse. But the 
 parts which are harmed by pain, let them, if 
 they can, give their opinion about it. 
 
 34. About fame : look at the minds [of 
 those wlio seek fame], observe what they are, 
 and what kind of things they avoid, and what 
 kind of things they pursue. And consider that 
 
 .as the heaps of sand piled on one another 
 
 * The end of this seqtion is unintelligible, 
 8 
 
114 THOUGHTS OF THE BMP BEOS. 
 
 hide the former sands, so ia life the eveuts 
 which go before are soon covered by those 
 which come after. 
 
 35. From Plato : * the man who has an ele- 
 vated mind and takes a view of all time and of 
 all substance, dost thou suppose it possible for 
 him to think that human life is anything great? 
 it is not possible, he said. — Such a man then 
 will think that death also is no evil — Certainly 
 not. 
 
 36. From Antisthenes : It is royal to do good 
 and to be abused. 
 
 37. It is a base thing for the countenance to 
 to be obedient and to regulate and compose it- 
 self as the mind commands, and for the mind not 
 to be regulated and composed by itself. 
 
 38. It is not right to vex ourselves at things, 
 For they care naught about it.^ 
 
 39. To the immortal gods and us give joy. 
 
 40. Life must be reaped like the ripe ears of 
 
 corn : 
 One man is born ; another dies.^ 
 
 41. If gods care not for m.e and for my children, 
 There is a reason for it. 
 
 42. For the good is with me, and the just. 
 
 43. No joining others in their wailing, no 
 violent emotion. 
 
 44. From Plato : ^ But I would make this man 
 a sufficient answer, which is this : Thou sayest 
 not well, if thou thinkest that a man, who is 
 good for anything at all ought to compute the 
 hazard of life or death, and should not rather 
 look to this only in all that he does, whether he 
 is doing what is j ust or unjust, and the works of 
 a good or a bad man. 
 
 * Plate, Pol. VI. 486. 
 
 * From the Bellerophon of Euripides. 
 
 * From the Hypsipyle of Euripides. Cicero (Tuscul. ni. 
 25.) has translated six lines from Euripides, and among 
 them are tliese two lines : — 
 
 Redtl3nda terrae est terra; turn vita omnihus 
 Metenda ut fniges : Sic jubet necessitas, 
 
 ^ See Aristophanes, Acharneuses. 
 
 ' From the Apologia, 
 
M. AUHELIVS ANTONmUS. 115 
 
 45. ^For thus it is, men of Athens, in truth: 
 wherever a man has placed himself thinking it 
 the best place for him, or has been placed by a 
 commander, there in my opinion he ought to 
 stay and to abide the hazard, taking nothing in- 
 to the reckoning, either death or anything else, 
 before the baseness [of deserting his post]. 
 
 46. But, my good friend, consider whether 
 that which is noble and good is not something 
 different from saving and being saved ; for f we 
 must not allow that it consists in living such or 
 such a time, at least for one who is really a 
 man ; f and he should not be fond of life, but 
 entrusting this to god and believing what 
 tlie women say, that no man can escape his des- 
 tiny, he should next inquire how he may best 
 live the time that he has to live.^ 
 
 47. Look round at the courses of the stars, ag 
 if thou wert going along with them ; and con- 
 stantly consider the changes of the elements in- 
 to one another ; for such thoughts purge away 
 the filth of the terrene life. 
 
 48. This is a fine saying of Plato : ^^ That he 
 who is discoursing about men should look also 
 at earthly things as if he viewed them from some 
 higlier place ; should look at them in their as- 
 semblies, armies, agricultural labors, marriages, 
 treaties, births, deaths, noise of the courts of 
 justice, desert places, various nations of barba- 
 rians, feasts, lamentations, markets, a mixture of 
 all things and an orderly combination of con- 
 traries. 
 
 49. Consider the past; such great changes of 
 political supremacies. Thou mayest foresee also 
 the things which will be. For they will certain- 
 ly be of like form, and it is not possible that 
 
 ' From the Apologia. 
 
 ^_ Plato, Gorgias, c. 6S. In this passage the text of An- 
 toninus lias iareov which is perhaps right : but there seems 
 so be something wrong in the text. It is certainly difficult 
 to Sec tlie exact construction of parts of the stction. Tha 
 rearhng EvKrhv for sdrsov docs not mend the matior. 
 
 " It is not in tha extant writings of Plato. 
 
116 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEBOR 
 
 they should deviate from the order of the things 
 which take place now : accordingly to have con- 
 templated human life for forty years is the same 
 as to have contemplated it for ten thousand, 
 years. For what more wilt thou see ? 
 
 50. That which has grown from the earth to 
 
 the earth, 
 But that which has sprung from heavenly seed, 
 Back to the heavenly realms returns.^^ 
 This is" either a dissolution of the mutual in- 
 volution of t^ie atoms, or a similar dispersion of 
 the unsentient elements. 
 
 51. With food and drinks and cunning magio 
 
 arts. 
 Turning the channel's course to 'scape from 
 death.i2 
 The breeze which heaven has sent 
 We must endure, and toil without complaining. 
 
 52. Another may be more expert in casting 
 his opponent ; but let him not be more social, nor 
 more modest, nor better disciplined to meet all 
 that happens, nor more considerate with respect 
 to the faults of liis neighbors. 
 
 53. Where any work can be done conformably 
 to the reason which is common to gods and men, 
 there we have nothiug to fear : for where we are 
 able to get profit by means of the activity which 
 is successful and proceeds according to our con- 
 stitution, there no harm is to be suspected. 
 
 54. Everywhere and at all times it is in thy 
 power piously to acquiesce in thy present condi- 
 tion, and to behave justly to those who are about 
 thee, and to exert thy skill upon thy present 
 thoughts, that nothing shall steal into them with- 
 out being well examined. 
 
 55. Do not look around thee to discover other 
 men's ruling principles, but look straight to this, 
 to what nature leads thee, both the universal 
 nature through the things which happen to thee, 
 
 1^ From the Chrysippus of Euripides. 
 
 " The first two lines are from the Supp. of EuripideH, T. 
 
M. A VHELIUS ANTONINUS. 117 
 
 and thy own nature through the acts which must 
 be done by thee. But every being ought to do 
 that which is according to its constitution ; and 
 all other things have been made for the sake of 
 rational beings just as among irrational things 
 the inferior for the sake of the superior, but the 
 rational for the sake of one another. 
 
 The prime principle then in man's constitution 
 is the social. And the second is not to yield to 
 the persuasions of the body, for it is the pecul- 
 liar office of the rational and intelligent motion 
 to circumscribe itself, and never to be overpow- 
 ered either by the motion of the senses or of the 
 appetites, for both are animal ; but the intelli- 
 gent motion claims superiority and does not per- 
 mit itself to be overpowered by the others. And 
 with good reason, for it is formed by nature to 
 use all of them. The third thing in the ration- 
 al constitution is freedom from error and from 
 deception. Let then the ruling principle hold- 
 ing fast to these things go straight on, and it has 
 what is its own. 
 
 56. Consider thyself to be dead, and to have 
 completed thy life up to the present time ; and 
 live according to nature the remainder which is 
 allowed thee. 
 
 67. Love that only which happens to thee, and 
 is spun with the thread of thy destiny. For 
 what is more suitable ? 
 
 58. In everything which happens keep before 
 thy eyes those to whom the same things hap- 
 pened, and how they were vexed, and treated 
 hem as strange things, and found fault with 
 1 m : and now where are they ? Nowhere. 
 "W '• then dost thou choose to act in the same 
 wa^ ^ and why dost thou not leave these agita- 
 tions which are foreign to nature, to those who 
 cause them and those who are moved by them; 
 and why art thou not altogether intent upon the 
 right way of making use of the things which hap- 
 pen to thee ? for then thou wilt use them well, 
 ahd they will be a material for thee [to work on]. 
 
118 TEOXTOSTS OF THE HMFEBOIt 
 
 Only attend to tlijself, and resolve to be a good 
 man in every act which thou doest : and remem- 
 
 jrjgj, * * * * #13 
 
 59. Look within. Within is tlie fountain of 
 good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt 
 ever dig. 
 
 60. The body ought to be compact, and to 
 show no irregularity either in motion or attitude. 
 For what the mind shows in the face by main- 
 taining in it the expression of intelligence and 
 propriety, that ought to be required also in the 
 whole body. But all these things should be ob- 
 served without affectation. 
 
 61. The art of life is more like the wrestler's 
 art than the dancer's, in respect of this that it 
 should stand ready and firm to meet onsets which 
 are sudden and unexpected. 
 
 62. Constantly observe who those are whose 
 approbation thou wishest to have, and what 
 ruling principles they possess. For then thou 
 wilt neither blame those who offend involuntari- 
 ly, nor wilt thou want their approbation, if thou 
 lookest to the sources of*their opinions and ap- 
 petites. 
 
 63. Every soul, the philosopher says, is invol- 
 untarily deprived of truth ; consequently in the 
 same way it is deprived of justice and temper- 
 ance and benevolence and everything of the kind. 
 It is most necessary to bear this constantly in 
 mind, for thus thou wilt be more gentle towards 
 all. 
 
 64. In every pain let this thought be present, 
 that there is no dishonor in it, nor does it make 
 the governing intelligence worse, for it does 
 not damage the intelligence either so far as the in* 
 telligence is rational i* or so far as it is social. 
 
 ^^ This section is obscure, and the conclusion is so corrupt 
 that it is impossible to give any probable moaning to it. It 
 is better to leave it as it is than to patch it up, as some critics 
 and translators have done. 
 
 ^* The text has ^Xikt}, which it has been proposed to alter 
 to XoyiK-fj, and this change is necessary. We shall then hare 
 in this section Xo7t/rt}and koivuvlkti associated, as w« hAT« in 
 Hi ik X07CK1) and iroXiTiKv and in s. 72. . 
 
M. AUSSLIUS ANTONINUS. 119 
 
 Indeed in the case of most pains let this remark 
 of Epicurus aid thee, that pain is neither intol- 
 erable nor everlasting, if thou bearest in mind 
 that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing 
 to it in imagination: and remember this too, 
 that we do not perceive that many things which 
 are disagreeable to us are the same as pain, such 
 as excessive drowsiness, and the being scorched 
 by heat, and the having no appetite. When then 
 thou art discontented about any of these things, 
 say to thyself, that thou art yielding to pain. 
 
 QS. Take care not to feel towards the inhu- 
 man, as they feel towards men.^^ 
 
 QQ. How do we know if Telauges was not 
 superior in character to Socrates ? for it is not 
 enough that Socrates died a more noble death, 
 and disputed more skilfully with the sophists, 
 and passed the night in the cold with more en- 
 durance, and that when he was bid to arrest 
 Leon of Salamis, he considered it more noble to 
 refuse, and that he walked in a swaggering way 
 in the streets — though as to this 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 any- 
 thing 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. 
 
 67. Nature has not so mingled f [the intelli- 
 gence] with the composition of the body, as not 
 to have allowed thee the power of circumscrib- 
 ing thyself and of bringing under subjection to 
 thyself all that is thy own ; for it is very pos- 
 sible to be a divine man and to be recognized as 
 such by no one. Always bear this in mind ; 
 
 ^ I have followed Gataker's conjectureoi dTrdv^/wTot instead 
 of the MSS. reading ql ivepwrou 
 
120 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 and another thing too, that very little indeed . 
 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 maintain- 
 ing 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 sub- 
 stance [reality], though in men's opinion thou 
 mayst 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 jDresents itself is always a ma- 
 terial 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 con- 
 sists 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 tol- 
 erate continually men snch 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 
 pne of them ? 
 
M. A nEEL ws A KTomirus. 121 
 
 71. It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to 
 fly from his own badness ; which is indeed pos- 
 sible, 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 an- 
 other 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 use- 
 ful. But it is useful to act according to nature. 
 Do not then be tired of receiving what is use- 
 ful 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, (ix. 21, VI. 
 44.) 16 
 
 ^^ It is not easy to understand tins section. It has been 
 suggested that there is some error in ij d\6yitrTa etc. Some 
 of the translators have made nothing of the passage, and 
 they have somewhat perverted the words. The first prop- 
 osition is, that the universe was made by some sufficient 
 power. A beginning of the vmiverse is assumed, and a 
 power which framed an order. Tlie next question is, How 
 are things produced now; or in other words, by what power 
 do forms apj^ear 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 succes- 
 sion have been effected and are effected. And this is in- 
 tt'iligible in a sense, if we admit that the universe is always 
 O'le and the same, a continuity of identity; as much one 
 and the same as man is one and the same, which he be- 
 lieves himself to be, tliongh he also believes and cannot 
 help believing that both in his body and in his thoughts 
 there is change and snccession. There is no real discon- 
 linuiiy th<;n in llie uiiivei-^e ; and if we say that there was 
 an order framed in the bnginning and that the things which 
 are now produced are a consequence of a previous airange- 
 
12^ THOUQHTB OF TKE EMPJEBOR 
 
 ment, we speak of things as we are compelled to view them, 
 as forming a series or 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 in- 
 tervals infinitely small, between any two supposed states 
 of any one thing, so there are no intervals, not even infi- 
 nitely small, between what we call one thing and any other 
 thing which we speak of as immediately preceding or fol- 
 lowing 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 sup- 
 pose 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 
 
 ?ast arrangement are only different names for one thing, 
 suppose then that Antoninus wrote here as people some- 
 times 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 no- 
 tions of production something like what I have expressed. 
 We now come to the alternative: "or even the chief 
 
 things principle." I do not exactly know what he 
 
 means byrd Kvpiurara,^' 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 us« 
 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 ( dpn'^ ) " movement," which contains the same 
 notion as the 'verh (w'prjTjcre) "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 makes a movement are directed 
 by no rational principle." The meaning then is, if there is % 
 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 pro- 
 duced or now exists without the action of the supreme in- 
 telligence, 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 Ms aa* 
 
M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 12S 
 
 tare*, and so he may be tranquil, if he does the best that he 
 oan. 
 
 , If there is no error in the passage, it is worth the labor 
 to discover the writer's exact meaning; for I think that he 
 had a meaning, though people may not agree what it was. 
 (Compare ix. 28. ) If I have rightly explained the em- 
 peror's meaning in this and other passages, he has touched 
 the solution of a great question. 
 
124 TUOUQETS OF THE EMPEBOR 
 
 VIII. 
 
 This reflection also tends to the remoyal of 
 the desire of empty fame, that it is no longer 
 in thy power to have lived the whole of thy 
 life, or at least thy life from thy youth upwards 
 like a philosopher; but both to many others 
 and to thyself it is plain that thou art far from 
 philosophy. Thou hast fallen into disorder then, 
 so that it is no longer easy for thee to get the 
 reputation of a pliilosopher ; and thy plan of 
 life also opposes it. If then thou hast truly 
 seen where the matter lies, throw away the 
 thought. How thou slialt seem [to others], and 
 be content if thou shalt live the rest of thy life 
 in such wise as thy nature wills. Observe then 
 what it wills, and let nothing else distract thee ; 
 for thou hast had experience of many wander- 
 ings without having found happiness anywhere, 
 not in syllogisms, nor in wealth, nor in reputa- 
 tion, nor in enjoyment, nor anywhere. Where 
 is it then ? In doing what man's nature requires. 
 How then shall a man do this ? If he has pnn- 
 ciples from v/hich come his affects and his a '-s. 
 What principles? Those which relate to go i 
 and bad : the belief that there is nothing goov. 
 for man, which does not make him just, tem- 
 perate, manly, free ; and that there is nothing 
 bad, which does not do the contrary to what 
 has been mentioned. 
 
 2. On the occasion of every act ask thyself. 
 How is this with respect to me ? Shall I repent 
 of it ? A little time and I am dead, and all is 
 gone. What more do I seek, if what I am now 
 doing is the work of an intelligent living being, 
 and a social being, and one who is under the 
 game law with god ? 
 
M.AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. 125 
 
 8. Alexander and Caius and Pompeius, what 
 are they in comparison with Diogenes and Hera- 
 clitus and Socrates ? For they were acquainted 
 with things, and their causes [forms], and their 
 matter, and the ruling principles of these men 
 were the same [or conformable to their pur- 
 suits]. But as to the others, how many things 
 had they to care for, and to how many things 
 were they slaves. 
 
 4. [Consider] that men will do the same 
 things nevertheless, even though thou shouldst 
 burst. 
 
 5. This is the chief thing : Be not perturbed, 
 for all things are according to the nature of 
 the universal ; and in a little time thou wilt be 
 nobody and nowhere, like Hadrianus and Au- 
 gustus. In the next place having fixed thy 
 eyes steadily on thy business look at it, and at 
 the same time remembering that it is thy duty 
 to be a good man, and what man's nature de- 
 mands, do it without turning aside ; and speak as 
 it seems to thee most just, only let it be with 
 good temper and with modesty and without 
 hypocrisy. 
 
 6. The nature of the universal has this work 
 to do, to remove to that place the things which 
 are in this, to change them, to take them away 
 here and to carry them there. All things are 
 change, yet we need not fear anything new. All 
 things are familiar [to us], but the distribution, 
 of them also remains the same. 
 
 7. Every nature is contented with itself when 
 it goes on its way well ; and a rational nature 
 goes on its way well, when in its thoughts it 
 assents to nothing false or uncertain, and when 
 it directs its movements to social acts onl}'', and 
 when it confines its desires and aversions to the 
 things which are in its power, and when it is 
 satisfied with everything that is assigned to_ it 
 by the common nature. For of this common 
 nature every particular nature is a part, as the 
 nature of the leaf is a part of the nature of the 
 
126 THOUFHTS OF THE EMPFBOB. 
 
 plant ; ex 3ept that in the plant the nature of 
 the leaf i^ a part of a nature which has not per- 
 ception o: reason, and is subject to be impeded ; 
 but the n iture of man is part of a nature which 
 is not subject to impediments, and is intelligent 
 «and just, dnce it gives to everything in equal 
 portions f nd according to its worth times, sub- 
 stance, ca.ise [form], activity, and incident. But 
 examine, not to discover that any one thing 
 compared with a.ny other single thing is equal 
 in all res jects, but by taking all the parts to- 
 gether of one thing and comparing them with all 
 the parts together of another. 
 
 8. Tho 1 hast not leisure [or ability] to read. 
 But thou hast leisure [or ability] to check arro- 
 gance : th 3U hast leisure to be superior to pleas- 
 ure and pain : thou hast leisure to be superior 
 to love of fame, and not to be vexed at stupid 
 and ungrateful people, nay even to care for 
 them. 
 
 9. Let no man any longer hear thee finding 
 fault with the court life or with thy own. (v. 
 16.) 
 
 16. Repentance is a kind of self-reproof for 
 having neglected something useful ; but that 
 which is good must be something useful, and 
 the perfect good man should look after it. But 
 no such man would ever repent of having refus- 
 ed any sensual pleasure. Pleasure then is 
 neither good nor useful. 
 
 11. This tiling, what is it in itself, in its own 
 constitution ? What is its substance and mate- 
 rial ? And what its causal nature [or form] ? 
 And what is it doing in the world? And how 
 long does it subsist ? 
 
 12. When thou risest from sleep with reluc- 
 tance, remember that it is according to thy con- 
 stitution and according to human nature to per- 
 form social acts, but sleeping is common also to 
 irrational animals. But that which is according 
 to each individual's nature, is also more pecul- 
 
M. AUBELITTS ANTONmUS X 7 
 
 iarly its own, and more suitable to its nature, 
 and indeed also more agreeable. 
 
 13. Constantly, and, if it be possible, on tno 
 occasion of every impression on the soul, apply 
 to it the principles of Physic, of Moral and of 
 Dialectic. 
 
 14. Whatever man thou meetest with, imme- 
 diately say to thyself : What opinions has thia 
 man about good and bad ? For if with respect 
 to pleasure and pain and the causes of each, and 
 with respect to fame and ignominy, death and 
 life he has such and such opinions, it will seem 
 nothing wonderful or strange to me, if he does 
 such and such things ; and [ shall bear in mind 
 that he is compelled to do so. 
 
 15. Remember that as it is a shame to he sur- 
 prised if the fig-tree produces figs, so it is to be 
 surprised if the world produces such and such 
 tilings of which it is productive ; and for the 
 physician and the helmsman it is a shame to be 
 surprised, if a man has a fever, or if the wind is 
 unfavorable. 
 
 16. Remember that to change thy opinion and 
 to follow him who corrects thy error is as consist- 
 ent with freedom as it is to persist in thy error. 
 For it is thy own, the activity which is exerted 
 according to thy own movement and judgment, 
 and indeed according to thy own understanding 
 too. 
 
 17. If a thing is in thy own power, why dost 
 thou do it ? but if it is in the power of another, 
 whom dost thou blame ? the atoms [chance] or 
 the gods ? Both are foolish. Thou must blame 
 nobody. For if thou canst, correct [that which 
 is the cause] ; but if thou canst not do this, cor- 
 rect at least the thing itself ; but if thou canst 
 not do even this, of what use is it to thee to 
 find fault ? for nothing should be done without 
 a purpose. 
 
 18. That which has died falls not out of the 
 universe. If it stays here, it also changes 
 here, and is dissolved into its proper partB» 
 
128 THOVGBTS OF TEE EMPEEOB. 
 
 whicli are elements of the universe and of thy- 
 self. And these too change, and thy murmur 
 not. 
 
 19. Everythmg exists for some end, a horse, a 
 vine. Why dost thou wonder ? Even the sun 
 will say, I am for some purpose, tind the rest of 
 the gods will say the same. For what purpose 
 then art thou ? to enjoy pleasure ? See if com- 
 mon sense allows this. 
 
 20. Nature has had regard in everything no 
 less to the end than to the beginning and the 
 continuance, just like the man who throws up a 
 ball. What good is it then for the ball to be 
 thrown up, or harm for it to come down, or 
 even to have fallen? and what good is it to the 
 bubble while it holds together, or what harm 
 when it is burst ? The same may be said of a 
 light also. 
 
 21. Turn it [the body] inside out, and see 
 what kind of thing it is ; and when it has grown 
 old, what kind of things it becomes, and when 
 it is diseased. 
 
 Short lived are both the praiser and the prais- 
 ed, and the rememberer and the remembered : 
 and all this in a nook of this part of the world ; 
 and not even here do all agree, no not any one 
 with himself: and the whole earth too is a 
 point. 
 
 22. Attend to the matter which is before thee, 
 whether it is an opinion or an act or a word. 
 
 Thou sufferest tliis justly : for thou choosest 
 rather to become good to-morrow than to be 
 good to day. 
 
 23. Am I doing anything ? I do it with refer- 
 ence to the good of mankind. Does anything 
 happen to me ? I receive it and refer it to the 
 gods, and the source of all things, from which 
 all that happens is derived. 
 
 24. Such as bathing appears to thee — oil, 
 sweat, dirt, filthy water, all things disgusting, — 
 BO is every part of life and everything. 
 
 25. Lucilla saw Verus die, and then Lucilla 
 
Jf. ATJRELWB ANTOmNUS, 129 
 
 died. Secunda saw Maximus die, and then Se- 
 cunda died. Epitynchanus saw Diotimus die, 
 and then Epitynchanus died. Antoninus saw 
 Faustina die, and then Antoninus died. Such 
 is everything. Celer saw Hadrianus die, and 
 then Celer died. And those sharp-witted men, 
 either seers or men inflated with pride, where 
 are they? for instance the sharp-witted men, 
 Charax and Demetrius the Platonist and Eudse- 
 mon, and any one else like them. All ephemeral, 
 dead long ago. Some indeed have not been 
 remembered even for a short time, and others 
 have become the heroes of fables, and again 
 others have disappeared even from fables. Re- 
 member this then, that this little compound, 
 thyself, must either be dissolved, or thy poor 
 breath must be extinguished, or be removed 
 and placed elsewhere. 
 
 26. It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper 
 work of a man. Now it is a proper work of a 
 man to be benevolent to his own kind, to despise 
 the movements of the senses, to form a just judg- 
 ment of plausible appearances, and to take a 
 survey of the nature of the universe and of the 
 things which happen in it. 
 
 27. There are three relations [between the© 
 and other things] : the one to the body ^ which 
 surrounds thee ; the second to the divine cause 
 from which all things come to all ; and the third 
 to those who live with thee. 
 
 28. Pain is either an evil to the body — then 
 let the body say what it thinks of it — or to the 
 soul ; but it is in the power of the soul to main- 
 tain its own serenity and tranquillity, and not to 
 think that jiain is an evil. For every judgment 
 and movement and desire and aversion is with- 
 in, and no evil ascends so high. 
 
 29. Wipe out thy imaginations by often say- 
 
 ' The text has oXnov M'hich in Antoninus means "form." 
 "formal." Accordingly Schulze recommends either Valk- 
 enaer's emendation ayyelov, "body," or Corae's »ia/d,ri»» 
 Compare xii. 13, x. 88. 
 
130 TBOUGHTS OF THE EMFEROlt 
 
 -ing to thyself : now it is in my power to let no 
 badness be in this soul, nor desire nor any per* 
 turbation at all ; but looking at all things I see 
 what is their nature, and I use each according 
 to its value. — Remember this power which thou 
 hast from nature. 
 
 30. Speak both in the senate and to every 
 man, whoever he may be, appropriately, not 
 with any affectation : use plain discourse. 
 . 31. Augustus' court, wife, daughter, descend- 
 ants, ancestors, sister, Agrippa, kinsmen, inti- 
 mates, friends, Arius, Maecenas, physicians and 
 sacrificing priests — the whole court is dead. 
 Then turn to the rest, not considering the death 
 of a single man, [but of a whole race,] as of the 
 Pompeii ; and that which is inscribed on the 
 tombs. The last of his race. Consider what 
 trouble those before them have had that they 
 might leave a successor ; and then, that of neces- 
 sity some one must be the last. Again here 
 consider the dearth of a whole race. 
 
 32. It is thy duty to order thy life well in 
 every single act ; and if every act does its duty, 
 as far as is possible, be content ; and no one is 
 able to hinder thee so that each act shall not do its 
 duty — But something external will stand in the 
 .way— Nothing will stand in the way of thy acting 
 justly and soberly and considerately — But per- 
 .haps some other active power will be hindered— 
 Well, but by acquiescing in the hindrance and 
 by being content to transfer thy efforts to that 
 which is allowed, another o]3portunity'of action 
 •is immediately put before thee in place of that 
 which was hindered, and one which will adapt 
 itself to this order of which we are speaking. 
 
 33. Receive [wealth or prosperity] without 
 arrogance ; and be ready to let it go. 
 
 34. If thou didst ever see a hand cut off, or a 
 foot, or a head, lying anywhere apart from the 
 rest of the body, such does a man make himself, 
 as far as he can, who is not content with what 
 happens, and separates himself from others, Qj 
 
M^ AURELius Ayroxiyus. I'st 
 
 does anything unsocial. Suppose thatthoa hast 
 detached thyself from the natural unity — ^for 
 thou wast made by nature a part, but now thou 
 hast cut thyself off — yet here there is this 
 beautiful provisioii, that it is in thy power again 
 to unite thyself. God has allowed this to no 
 other part, after it has been separated and cut 
 asunder, to come together again. But consider 
 the benevolence with which he has distinguished 
 man, for he has put it in his power not to be 
 separated at all from the universal ; and when 
 he has been separated, he has allowed him to re- 
 turn and to be united and to resume his place as 
 a part. 
 
 35. As the nature of the universal has given 
 to every rational being all the other powers that 
 it has,t so we have received from it this power 
 also. For as the universal nature converts and 
 fixes in its predestined place everything which 
 stands in its way and opposes it, and makes such 
 things a part of itself, so also the rational animal 
 is able to make every hindrance its own material, 
 and to use it for such purpose as it may have 
 design ed.2 
 
 36. Do not disturb thyself by thinking of the 
 whole of thy life. Let not thy thoughts at once 
 embrace all the various troubles which thoumayst 
 expect to befall thee : but on every occasion ask 
 thyself. What is there in this which is intolerable 
 and past bea.ring ? for thou wilt be ashamed to 
 confess. In the next place remember that neither 
 the future nor the past pains thee, but only the 
 present. But this is reduced to a very little, if 
 thou only circumscribest it, and chidest thy mind, 
 if it is unable to hold out against even this. 
 
 37. Does Panthea or Pergaraus noAvsit by the 
 tomb of Verus ? ^ Does Chaurias or Diotimus sit 
 
 2 The text is corrupt at the beginning of the paragraph, 
 but the meaning Avill appear if the second \oyiKlM' is 
 changed into SXwp: though this change alone will notes- 
 tablisii the grammatical completeness of the text. 
 
 2 " Verus " is a conjecture of Saumaise, and perhaps the 
 true reading. 
 
132 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 bj the tomb of Hadrianus ? That would be rid- 
 iculous. Well, suppose they did sit there, 
 would the dead be conscious of it ? and if the 
 dead were conscious, would they be pleased? 
 and if they were pleased, would that make them 
 immortal ? Was it not in the order of destiny 
 that these persons too should become old women 
 and old men and then die ? What then would 
 those do after those were dead? All this is 
 foul smell and blood in a bag. 
 
 38. If thou canst see sharp, look and judge 
 wisely, f says the philosopher. 
 
 39. In the constitution of the rational animal 
 I see no virtue which is opposed to justice ; but 
 I see a virtue which is opposed to love of 
 pleasure, and that is temperance. 
 
 40. If thou takest away the opinion about that 
 which appears to give thee pain, thou thyself 
 standest in perfect security — Who is this? self 
 — The reason — But I am not reason — Be it so. 
 Let then the reason itself not trouble itself. 
 But if any other part of thee suffers, let it have 
 its own opinion about itself, (vii. 16.) 
 
 41. Hindrance to the perceptions of sense is 
 an evil to the animal nature. Hindrance to 
 the movements [desires] is equally an evil to 
 the animal nature. And something else also is 
 equally an impediment and an evil to the consti- 
 tution of plants. So then that wliich is a hin- 
 drance to the intelligence is an evil to the intel- 
 ligent nature. Apply all these -things then to 
 thyself. Does pain or sensuous pleasure affect 
 thee ? The senses will look to that. — Has any 
 obstacle opposed thee in thy efforts towards an 
 object? if indeed thou wast making. .this effort 
 absolutely [unconditionally, or, without any 
 reservation], certainly this obstacle is an evil to 
 thee considered as a rational animal. But if thou 
 takest [into consideration] the usual course of 
 things, thou hast not yet been injured nor even 
 impeded. The things however which are proper 
 to the understanding no ^one is. used to impede,] 
 
Jtf. AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 13 J 
 
 for neither fire nor iron nor tyrant nor abuse 
 touches it in any way. When it has been made 
 a sphere, it continues a sphere, (xi. 12.) 
 
 42. It is not fi; that I slioulclgive myself pain, 
 for I have nevei intentionally given pain even 
 to another. 
 
 43. Different things delight different people. 
 But it is my delight to keep the ruling faculty 
 sound without turning away either from any 
 man or from anj of the things which happen to 
 men, but looking at and receiving all with wel- 
 come eyes and ising everything according to 
 its value. 
 
 44. See that thou secure this present time to 
 thyself : for thos'i who rather pursue posthumous 
 fame do not consider that the men of after time 
 will be exactly such as these whom they cannot 
 bear now ; and both are mortal. And what is 
 it in any way to thee if these men of after time 
 utter this or that sound or have this or that 
 opinion about thee ? 
 
 45. Take me and cast me where thou wilt ; 
 for there I shall keep my divine part tranquil, 
 that is, content, if it can feel and act conform- 
 ably to its proper constitution. Is this [change 
 of place] sufficient reason why my soul should 
 1)6 unhappy and Avorse than it was, depressed, 
 expanded, shrinking, affrighted ? and what wilt 
 thou find which is sufficient reason for this? * 
 
 46. Nothing can happen to any man which is 
 not a human accident, nor to an ox which is not 
 according to the nature of an ox, nor to a vine 
 which is not according to the nature of a 
 vine, nor to a stone which is not proper to 
 a stone. If then there happens to each thing 
 both what is usual and natural, why shouldst 
 thou complain? For the common nature brings 
 nothing which may not be borne by thee. 
 
 * bfyyofjAvq In this passage seems to have a passive sense. 
 It is difficult to find an apt expression for it and some of the 
 other words. A comparison with xi. 12, wiU help to expiate 
 the meauing. 
 
■ tSi TffOUOSTS OF THE EMPEBOB 
 
 47. If thou art pained b j any external thing, 
 it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy 
 own judgment about it. And it is in thy power 
 to wipe out this judgment now. But if any- 
 thing in thy own disposition gives thee pain, 
 who hinders thee from correcting thy opinion ? 
 And even if thou art pained because thou art 
 not doing some particular thing which seems to 
 thee to be right, why dost thou not rather act 
 than complain ? — But some insuperable obstacle 
 is in the way ? — Do not be grieved then, for the 
 cause of its not being done depends not on thee 
 — But it is not worth while to live, if this can? 
 not be done — Take thy departure then from life 
 contentedly, just as he dies who is in full activity 
 and well-pleased too with the things which are 
 obstacles. 
 
 48. Remember that the ruling faculty is in- 
 vincible, when self-collected it is satisfied with 
 itself, if it does nothing which it does not choose 
 to do, even if it resist from mere obstinacy. 
 What then will it be when it forms a judgment 
 about anything aided by reason and deliberately ? 
 therefore the mind which is free from passions 
 is a citadel, for man has nothing more secure 
 to which he can fly for refuge and for the future 
 be inexpugnable. He then who has not seen 
 this is an ignorant man ; but he who has seen it 
 and does not fly to this refuge is unhappy. 
 
 49. Say nothing more to thyself than what the 
 first appearances report. Suppose that it has 
 been reported to thee that a certain person 
 speaks ill of thee. This has been reported ; but 
 that thou hast been injured, that has not been 
 reported. I see that my child is sick. I do see ; 
 but that he is in danger, I do not see. Thus 
 then always abide by the first appearances, and 
 add nothing thyself from within, and then 
 nothing happens to thee. Or rather add some- 
 thing, like a man who knows everything that 
 happens in the World. 
 
 50. A cucumber is bitter — Throw it away.— 
 
M. AURELIUS AN-TONINUS. 135 
 
 There are briers in the road ■— Turn aside ivom 
 them.-^This is enough. Do not add, And why 
 were such things made in the world ? For thou 
 wilt be ridiculed by a man who is acquainted 
 with nature, as thou wouldst be ridiculed by a 
 carpenter and shoemaker if thou didst find fault 
 because thou seest in their workshop shavings 
 and cuttings from the things which they make. 
 And yet they have places into which they can 
 throw these shavings and cuttings ; but the 
 universal nature has no external space ; now the 
 wondrous part of her art is that though she has 
 circumscribed herself, everything within her 
 which appears to decay and to grow old and to 
 be useless she changes into herself, and again 
 makes other new things from these very same, 
 80 that she requires neither substance from with- 
 out nor wants a place into which she may cast 
 that which decays. She is content then with her 
 own space, and her own matter and her own art. 
 
 61. Neither in thy actions be sluggish nor in 
 thy conversation without method, nor wandering 
 in thy thoughts, nor let there be in thy soul in- 
 ward contention nor external effusion, nor in Hi© 
 be so busy as to have no leisure. 
 
 Suppose that men kill thee, cut thee in pieces, 
 curse thee. What then can these things do to 
 prevent thy mind from remaining pure, wise, 
 sober, just ? For instance, if a man should stand 
 by a limpid pure spring, and curse it, the spring 
 never ceases sending up potable water ; and if 
 he should cast clay into it or filth, it will speed- 
 ily disperse them and wash them out, and will 
 not be at all polluted. How then shalt thou 
 possess a perpetual fountain [and not a mere 
 well] ? By forming thyself hourly to freedom 
 conjoined with benevolence, simplicity, and mod- 
 esty. 
 
 52. He who does not know what the world is, 
 does not know where he is. And he who does 
 not know for what purpose the world exists, does 
 not know who he is, nor what the world is. But 
 
136 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROB 
 
 he who has failed in any one of these things 
 could not even say for what purpose he exists 
 himself. Wliat then dost thou think of him who 
 [avoids or] seeks the praise of those who applaud, 
 of men who know not either where they are or 
 Tivho they are. 
 
 ■ 53. Dost thou wish to be praised by a man who 
 curses himself thrice every hour? wouldst thou 
 wish to please a man who does not please him- 
 self? Does a man pleai^e himself who repents 
 of nearly everything that he dees ? 
 
 54. No longer let thy breathing only act in 
 concert with the air which surrounds thee, but 
 let thy intelligence also now be in harmony with 
 the intelliorence which embraces all things. For 
 the intelligent power is no less diffused in all 
 parts and pervades all things for him who is 
 willing to draw it to him than the aerial power 
 for him who is able to respire it. 
 
 55. Generally, wickedness does no harm at all 
 to the universe ; and particularly, the wickedness 
 [of one man] does no harm to another. It is 
 only harmful to him who has it in his power to 
 be released from it, as soon as he shall choose. 
 
 56. To my own free will the free will of 
 my neighbor is just as indifferent as his breath 
 and his flesh. For though we are made espe- 
 cially for the sake of one another, still the ruling 
 power of each of us has its own office, for other- 
 wise my neighbor's wickedness would be my 
 harm, which god has not willed in order that my 
 tinhappiness may not depend on another. 
 
 . 57. The sun appears to be poured down, and 
 in 3,11 directions indeed it is diffused, yet it is 
 
 •not effused. For this diffusion is extension : 
 Accordingly its rays are called Extensions 
 
 . [dKTiws] because they are extended [dTro vod 
 iKTeiveffdai ] .* But ouc may judge what kind of 
 a thing a ray is, if he looks at the sun's light 
 passing through a narrow opening into a dark- 
 ened room, for it is extended in a right line, and 
 * A piece of bad etymology. 
 
M. AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. 137 
 
 as it were is divided wlien it meets with a solid 
 body which stands in the way and intercepts 
 the air beyond ; but there the light remains 
 fixed and does not glide or fall off. Such then 
 ought to be the outpouring and diffusion of the 
 understanding, and it should in no way be an 
 effusion, but an extension, and it should make 
 no violent or impetuous collision with the ob- 
 stacles whicli are in its way; nor yet fall down, 
 but be fixed and enlighten that which receives 
 it. For a body will deprive itself of the illumina- 
 tion, if it does not admit it. 
 
 58. He who fears death either fears the loss 
 of sensation or a different kind of sensation. 
 But if thou shalthave no sensation, neither wilt 
 thou feel any harm ; and if thou shalt acquire 
 another kind of sensation, thou wilt be a differ- 
 ent kind of living being and thou wilt not cease 
 to live. 
 
 59. Men exist for the sake of one another. 
 Teach them then or bear with them. 
 
 60. In one way an arrow moves, in another 
 way the mind. The mind indeed, both when it 
 exercises caution and when it is employed about 
 inquiry, moves straight onward not the less, and 
 to its object. 
 
 61. Enter into every man's ruling faculty ; 
 and also let every other man enter into thifi^ 
 
1B8 TBOVGStS OF TEE UMPSBOIt. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Hb who acts unjustly acts impiously. For 
 «ince the universal nature has made rational an- 
 imals for the sake of one another to help one 
 another according to their deserts, but in no 
 way to injure one another, he who transgresses 
 her will, is clearly guilty of impiety towards 
 the highest divinity. And he too who lies is 
 guilty of impiety to the same divinity ; for the 
 universal nature is the nature of all things that 
 B,ve ; and all things that are have a relation to 
 all things that come into existence. And fur- 
 ther, this universal nature is named truth and is 
 the prime cause of all things that are true. He 
 then who lies intentionally is guilty of impiety 
 inasmuch as he acts unjustly by deceiving; and 
 he also who lies unintentionally, inasmuch as he 
 is at variance with the universal nature, and in- 
 asmuch as he disturbs the order by fighting 
 against the nature of the world ; for he fights 
 against it, who is moved of himself to that which 
 is contrary to truth, for he had received powers 
 from nature through the neglect of which he is 
 not able now to distinguish falsehood from truth. 
 And indeed he who pursues pleasure as good, 
 and avoids pain as evil is guilty of impiety. 
 For of necessity such a man must often find 
 fault with the universal nature, alleging that it 
 assigns things to the bad and the good contrary 
 to their deserts, because frequently the bad are 
 in the enjoyment of pleasure and possess the 
 things which procure pleasure, but the good 
 have pain for their share and the things which 
 cause pain. And further, he who is afraid of 
 pain will sometimes also be afraid of some of th^ 
 
things which will happen in the world, and even 
 this is impiety. And he who pursues pleasure^ 
 will not abstain from injustice, and this is 
 plainly impiety. Now with respect to the things 
 towards which the universal nature is equally 
 affected, — for it would not have made both, un- 
 less it was equally affected towards both, — to- 
 wards these they who wish to follow nature 
 should be of the same mind with it, and equally 
 affected. With respect to pain then and pleas- 
 ure or death and life or honor and dishonor, 
 which the universal nature employs equally, 
 whoever is not equally affected is manifestly 
 acting impiousl}'. And I say that the universal 
 nature employs them equally, instead of saying 
 that tliey liappen alike to those who are pro- 
 duced in continuous series and to those who 
 come after them by virtue of a certain original 
 movement of providence, according to which it 
 moved from a certain beginning to this ordering 
 of thing^s, having^ conceived certain reasons of 
 the things which were to be, and having deter- 
 mined generative powers of substances and 
 changes and such like successions. 
 
 2. It would be a man's happiest lot to depart 
 from mankind without having had any taste of 
 lying and hypocrisy and luxury and pride. 
 However to breathe out one's life when a man 
 has had enough of these things is the next best 
 voyage, as the saying is. Hast thou determined 
 to abide with vice, and has not experience yet 
 induced thee to fly from this pestilence ? For 
 the destruction of the understanding is a pesti- 
 lence, much more indeed than any such corrup- 
 tion and change of this atmosphere which sur- 
 rounds us. Fur this corruption is a pestilence 
 of animals in so far as they are animals ; but the 
 other is a pestilence of men in so far as they are 
 men. 
 
 3. Do not despise death, but be well content 
 witii it, since this too is one of those things 
 which nature wills. For such as it is to be 
 
140 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEBOB. 
 
 young and to grow old, and to increase and to 
 reach maturity, and to have teeth and beard and 
 gray hairs, and to beget and to be pregnant and 
 to bring forth, and all the other natural opera- 
 tions which the seasons of thy life bring, such 
 also is dissolution. This then is consistent with 
 the character of a reflecting man to be neither 
 careless nor impatient nor contemptuous with 
 respect to death, but to wait for it as one of the 
 operations of nature. As thou now waitest for 
 the time when the child shall come out of thy 
 wife's womb, so be ready for the time when thy 
 soul shall fall out of this envelope. But if thou 
 requirest also a vulgar kind of comfort which 
 shall reach thy heart, thou wilt be made best 
 reconciled to death by observing the objects 
 from which thou art going to be removed and 
 the morals of those with whom thy soul will no 
 longer be mingled. For it is no way right to 
 be offended with men, but it is thy duty to care 
 for them and to bear with them gently ; and yet 
 to remember that thy departure will be not from 
 men who have the same principles as thyself. 
 For this is the only thing, if there be any, which 
 could draw us the contrary way and attach us 
 to life, to be permitted to live with those who 
 have the same principles as ourselves. But 
 now thou seest how great is the trouble arising 
 from the discordance of those who live together, 
 so that thou mayst sa3% Come quick, O death, 
 lest perchance I too should forget myself. 
 
 4. He who does wrong does wrong against 
 himself. He who acts unjustly acts unjustly to 
 himself, because he makes himself bad. 
 
 5. Pie often acts unjustly who does not do a 
 certain thing; not only he who does a certain 
 thing. 
 
 6. Thy present opinion founded on under- 
 standing, and thy present conduct directed to 
 social good, and thy present disposition of con- 
 tentment with everything which happens f— 
 -iiat is enough. 
 
M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 141 
 
 7. Wipe out imagination : check desire ; ex- 
 tinguish appetite : keep the ruling faculty in its 
 own power. 
 
 8. Among the animals which have not reason 
 one life is distributed ; but among reasonable 
 animals one intelligent soul is distributed : just 
 as there is one earth of all things which are of 
 an earthly nature, and we see by one light, and 
 breathe one air, all of us that have the faculty 
 of vision and all that have life. 
 
 9. All things which participate in anything 
 which is common to them all move towards that 
 which is of the same kind with themselves. Ev- 
 erything which is earthy turns towards the 
 earth, everything which is liquid flows together, 
 and everything which is of an aerial kind does 
 the same, so that they require something to 
 keep them asunder and the application of force. 
 Fire indeed moves upwards on account of the 
 elemental fire, but it is so ready to be kindled 
 together with all the fire which is here, that 
 even every substance which is somewhat dry, is 
 easily ignited, because there is less mingled with 
 it of that which is a hindrance to ignition. Ac- 
 cordingly then everything also which partici- 
 pates in the common intelligent nature moves in 
 like manner towards that which is of the same 
 kind with itself, or moves even more. For so 
 much as it is superior in comparison with all 
 other things, in the same degree also is it more 
 ready to mingle with and to be fused with that 
 which is akin to it. Accordingly among animals 
 devoid of reason we find swarms of bees, and 
 herds of cattle, and the nurture of young birds, 
 and in a manner, loves ; for even in aminals 
 there are souls, and that power which brings 
 them together is seen to exert itself in the supe- 
 rior degree, and in such a way as never has 
 been observed in plants nor in stones nor in 
 trees. But in rational animals there are politi- 
 cal communities and friendships, and familica 
 and meetings of people ; and in wars treaties anc^ 
 
142 TEOTJQHTS OF TB:E EMP:EllOIi 
 
 armistices. But in tlie things which are still 
 superior, even though they are separated from 
 one another, unity in a manner exists, as in the 
 stars. Thus the ascent to the higher degree is 
 able to produce a sympathy even in things 
 which are separated. See tlien what now takes 
 place. For only intelligent animals have now 
 forgotten this mutual 'desire and inclination, 
 and in them alone the property of flowing to- 
 gether is not seen. But still though men strive 
 to avoid [this union], they are caught and held 
 by it, for their nature is too strong for them ; 
 and thou wilt see what I say, if thou only ob- 
 servest. Sooner then will one find anything 
 earthly which comes in contact with no earthly 
 tiling than a man altogether separated from 
 other men. 
 
 10. Both man and god and the universe pro- 
 duce fruit ; at the proper seasons each produces 
 it. But if usage has especially fixed these terms 
 to the vine and like things, this is nothing. Rea- 
 son produces fruit both for all and for itself, 
 and there are produced from it other things of 
 the same kind as reason itself. 
 
 11. If thou art able, correct by teacliing those 
 who do wrong; but if thou canst not, remem- 
 ber that indulgence is given to thee for this pur- 
 pose. And the gods too are indulgent to such 
 persons ; and for some purposes they even help 
 them to get health, wealth, reputation ; «o kind 
 they are. And it is in thy power also ; or say, 
 who hinders thee ? 
 
 12. Labor not as one who is wretched, nor yet 
 as one who would be pitied or admired : but di- 
 rect thy will to one thing only, to put thyself 
 in motion and to check thyself, as the social 
 reason requires. 
 
 13. To-day I have got out of all trouble, or 
 rather I have cast out all trouble, for it was not 
 outside, but within and in my opinions. 
 
 14. All things are the same, familiar in expe- 
 rience, and ephemeral in time, and worthless in 
 
if. AVRELIU8 ANTONINUS. ■ ,143 
 
 the matter. Everything now is just as it was ia 
 the time of those whom we have buried. 
 
 15. Things stand outside of us, themselves by 
 themselves, neither knowing aught of themselves 
 nor expressing any judgment. What is it then 
 which does judge about them ? The ruling fac- 
 ulty. 
 
 16. Not in passivity, but in activity lie the 
 evil and the good of the rational social animal, 
 just as his virtue and his vice lie not in passiv- 
 ity, but in activity. 
 
 17. For the stone which has been thrown up it 
 is no evil to come down, nor indeed any good to 
 have been carried up. (viii. 20.) 
 
 18. Penetrate inwards into men's leading prin- 
 ciples, and tliou wilt see what judges thou art 
 afraid of, and what kind of judges they are of 
 themselves. 
 
 19. All things are changing: and thou thyself 
 art in continuous mutation and in a manner iu 
 continuous destruction, and the universe too. 
 
 20. It is thy duty to leave another man's 
 wrongful act there where it is. (vri. 29, ix. 38.) 
 
 21. Termination of activity, cessation, from 
 movement and opinion, and in a sense their death 
 is no evil. Turn thy thoughts now to the consid- 
 eration of thy life, thy life as a child, as a youth, 
 thy manhood, thy old age, for in these also every 
 change was a death. Is this anything to fear ? 
 Turn thy thoughts now to thy life under thy 
 grandfather, then to thy life under thy mother, 
 then to thy life under thy father ; and as thou 
 findest many other differences and changes and 
 terminations, ask thyself. Is this anything to 
 fear ? In like manner then neither are the ter- 
 mination and cessation and change of thy whole 
 life a thing to be afraid of ? 
 
 22. Hasten [to examine] thy own ruling fac- 
 ulty and that of the universe and that of thy 
 neighbor : thy own that thou mayst make it 
 just : and that of the universe, that thou mayst 
 remember of what thou art a part ; and that of 
 
144 ' THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROB 
 
 thy neighbor, that thou mayst know whether he 
 has acted ignorantly or Avith knowledge, and 
 that thou mayst also consider that his ruling fac- 
 ulty is akin to thine. 
 
 23. As thou thyself art of a component part of 
 a social system, so let every act of thine be a com- 
 ponent part of social life. Whatever act of thine 
 then has no reference either immediately or re- 
 motely to a social end, this tears asunder thy life 
 and does not allow it to be one, and it is of the 
 nature of a mutiny, just as when in a popular 
 assembly a man acting by himself stands apart 
 from the general agreement. 
 
 24. Quarrels of little children and their sports, 
 and poor spirits carrying about dead bodies [such 
 is everything] ; and so what is exhibited in the 
 representation of the mansions of the dead^ 
 strikes our eyes more clearly. 
 
 25. Examine into the quality of the form of 
 an object, and detach it altogether from its ma- 
 terial part and then contemplate it ; then deter- 
 mine the time, the longest which a thing of this 
 peculiar form is naturally made to endure. 
 
 26. Thou has endured infinite troubles through 
 not being contented with thy ruling faculty, 
 when it does the things which it is constituted 
 by nature to do. Bat enough [of this]. 
 
 27. When another blames thee or hates thee, 
 or when men say about thee anything injurious, 
 approach their souls, penetrate within, and see 
 what kind of men they are. Thou wilt discover 
 that there is no reason to take any trouble that 
 these men may have this or that opinion about 
 thee. However thou must be well disposed to- 
 wards them, for by nature they are friends. And 
 the gods too aid them in all ways, by dreams, by 
 signs, towards the attainment of those things on 
 which they set a value. 
 
 1 t6 t^i Ne/cutoi may be, as Gataker conjectures, a dram- 
 atic representation of tlie state of tlie dead. Scliuize sup- 
 posestliat it may be also a reference to the TiiKvta of the 
 Odyssey (lib. xi.) 
 
M. AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. 145 
 
 28. The periodic movements of the universe 
 are the same, up and down from age to age. And 
 either the universal intelligence puts itself in 
 motion for every separate effect, and if this is so, 
 be thou content with that which is the result of 
 its activity ; or it put itself in motion once, and 
 everything else comes by way of sequence ^ 
 in a manner : or indivisible elements are the 
 origin of all things. — In a word, if there is a god, 
 all is well ; and if chance rules, do not thou also 
 be governed by it. 
 
 Soon will the earth cover us all : then the 
 earth too will change, and the things also which 
 result from change Avill continue to change for- 
 ever, and these again forever. For if a man 
 reflects on the changes and transformations 
 winch follow one another like wave after wave 
 and their rapidity, he will despise everything 
 which is perishable. 
 
 29. The universal cause is like a winter tor- 
 rent : it carries everything along with it. But 
 how worthless are all these poor people who are 
 engaged in matters political, and, as they sup- 
 pose, are playing the philosopher! All drivel- 
 lers. Well then, man : do what nature now 
 requires. Set thyself in motion, if it is in thy 
 power, and do not look about thee to see if any 
 one will observe it; nor yet expect Plato's Re- 
 public : but be content if the smallest thing 
 goes on well, and consider such an event to be 
 no small matter. For who can change men's 
 principles ? and without a change of principles 
 what else is there than the slavery of men who 
 groan while they pretend to obey ? Come now 
 and tell me of Alexander and Philippus and 
 Demetrius of Phalerum. They themselves shall 
 judge whether they discovered what the uni- 
 versal nature required and trained themselves 
 accordingly. But if they acted like tragedy 
 
 ^ The words which immediately follow Kar^ eraKoXoijd'nfftv 
 are corrupt. But the meaning is hardly doubtful. (Com- 
 pare vii. 75.' - „ 
 
14,6 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEBOS 
 
 heroes, no one has condemned me to imitate 
 them. Simple and modest is the work of philos- 
 ophy. Draw me not aside to insolence and 
 pride. 
 
 80. Look down from above on the countless 
 herds of men and their countless solemnities, 
 and the infinitely varied voy agings in storms 
 and calms, and the differences among those who 
 are born, who live together, and die. And con- 
 sider too the life lived by others in olden 
 time, and the life of those who will live after 
 thee, and the life now lived among barbarous 
 nations, and how many know not even thy 
 name, and how many will soon forget it, and 
 how they who perhaj^s now are praising thee 
 will very soon blame thee, and that neither a 
 posthumous name is of any value, nor reputa- 
 tion, nor anything else. 
 
 31. Let there be freedom from perturbations 
 with respi^ct to the things which come from 
 the external cause ; and let there be justice in 
 the things done by virtue of the internal cause, 
 that is, lev- there be movement and action ter- 
 minating :.n this, in social acts, for this is 
 according to thy nature. 
 
 32. Thou canst remove out of the way many 
 useless things among those which disturb thee, 
 for they lie entirely in thy opinion ; and thou 
 wilt then gain for thyself ample space by com- 
 prehending the Avliole universe in thy mind and 
 by contemplating the eternity of time and ob- 
 serving the rapid change of every several thing, 
 how short is the time from its birth to its dis- 
 solution, and the illimitable time before its birth 
 as well as the equally boundless time after its 
 dissolution. 
 
 33. All that thou seest will quickly perish, 
 and those who have been spectators of its disso- 
 lution, will very soon perish too. And he who 
 dies at the extremest old age will be brought 
 into the same condition with him who died prem- 
 aturely. 
 
M. AUBELIVS ANTOKIKUS. 14T 
 
 34. What are these men's leading principles, 
 and about what kind of things are tbiey busy, 
 and for what kind of reasons do they love and 
 honor ? Imagine that thou seest their poor souls 
 laid bare. When they think that the 7" do harm 
 by their blame or good by their prais3, what an 
 idea ! 
 
 35. Loss is nothino; else than chaig'e. But 
 the universal nature delights in change, and in 
 obedience to her all things are now lone well, 
 and from eternity have been done in like form, 
 and will be such to time without end. What 
 then dost thou say ? That all things iiave been 
 and all things always will be bad, ai id that no 
 power has ever been found in so raauy gods to 
 rectify these things, but the world has been 
 condemned to be bound in never ceasing evil ? 
 
 36. The rottenness of the matter which is the 
 substance of everything! water, dust, bones, 
 filth : or again, marble rocks, the caUosities of 
 the earth ; and gold and silver, the sediments ; 
 and garments, only bits of hair; and purple dye, 
 blood ; and everything else is of the same kind. 
 And that which is of the nature of breath is 
 also another thing of the same kind, changing 
 fron this to that. 
 
 37. Enough of this wretched life and mur- 
 muring and apish tricks. Why art thou dis- 
 turbed ? What is there new in this ? What un- 
 settles thee ? Is it the form of the thing ? Look 
 at it. Or is it the matter ? Look at it. But be- 
 sides these there is nothing. Towards the gods 
 then now become at last more simple and better. 
 It is the same whether we look at these tilings 
 for a hundred years or three. 
 
 38. If any man has done wrong, the harm is 
 his own. But perhaps he has not done wrong. 
 
 39. Either all things proceed from one intel- 
 ligent source and come together as in one body, 
 and the part ought not to find fault with what 
 is done for the benefit of the whole : or there 
 are only atoms and nothing else than mixtui'e 
 
U8 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROB 
 
 and dispersion. "Why then art tliou disturbed? 
 Say to the ruling faculty, Art thou dead, art 
 thou corrupted, art thou playing the hypocrite, 
 art thou become a beast, dost thou herd and 
 feed with the rest ? ^ 
 
 40. Either the gods have no power or they 
 have power. If then they have no power, why 
 dost thou pray to them? But if they have 
 power, why dost thou not pray for them to give 
 thee the faculty of not fearing any of the things 
 which thou fearest, or of not desiring any of 
 the things wJiich thou desirest, or not beinof 
 pained at anything, rather than pray that any 
 of these things should not happen or happen ? 
 for certainly if they can co-operate with men, 
 they can co-operate for these purposes. But 
 perhaps thou wilt say, the gods have placed 
 them in thy power. Well then, is it not better 
 to use what is in thy power like a free man, 
 than to desire in a slavish and abject way what 
 is not in thy power ? And who has told thee 
 that the gods do not aid us even in the things 
 which are in our power ? Begin then to pray 
 for such things and thou wilt see. One man 
 prays thus : How shall I be able to lie with that 
 woman? Do thou pray thus: How shall I not 
 desire to lie with her? Another prays thus, 
 How shall I be released from this ? Another 
 prays : How shall I not desire to be released ? 
 Another thus, How shall I not lose my little 
 son? Thou thus. How shall I not be afraid to 
 lose him. In fine, turn thy prayers this way, 
 and see what comes. 
 
 41. Epicurus says, In my sickness my con- 
 versation was not about my bodily sufferings, 
 nor, says he, did I talk on such subjects to 
 those who visited me , but I continued to dis- 
 
 ' There is some corruption r^ the end of th's section. I 
 believe that tlie translatioii expresses the emperor's mean* 
 ing. Whether iiite,l!''.>^nce rules all things or chance rules, 
 a man must not he (iisturbed. He must use the power thai 
 he has, aud he tranquil. 
 
M. AURMLIU8 ANTOm^TIS. 149 
 
 course on the nature of things as before, keep* 
 ing to this main point, how tlie mind while 
 participating in such movements as go on in the 
 poor flesh shall be free from perturbations and 
 maintain its proper good. Nor did I, he says, 
 give the physicians an opportunity of putting 
 on solemn looks, as if they were doing some- 
 thing great, but my life went on well and hap- 
 pily. Do then the same as he did both in 
 sickness, if thou art sick, and in any other cir- 
 cumstances ; for never to desert philosophy in 
 any events that may befall us, nor to hold 
 trifling talk either with an ignorant man or 
 with one unacquainted with nature, is a prin- 
 ciple of all schools of philosophy ; but to be 
 intent only on that which thou art now doing 
 and on the instrument by which thou doest it. 
 42. When thou art offended with any man's 
 shameless conduct, immediately ask thyself. Is 
 it possible then that shameless men should not 
 be in the world ? It is not possible. Do not 
 then require what is impossible. For this man 
 also is one of those shameless men, who must 
 of necessity be in the world. Let the same 
 considerations be present to thy mind in the 
 case of the knave, and the faithless man, and 
 of every man who does wrong in any way. 
 For at the same time that thou dost remind 
 thyself that it is impossible that such kind of 
 men should not exist, thou wilt become better 
 disposed towards every one individually. It is 
 useful to perceive this too immediately when the 
 occasion arises, what virtue nature has given 
 to man to oppose to every wrongful act. For 
 she has given to man as an antidote, against 
 the stupid man mildness, and against another 
 kind of man some other power. And in all 
 cases it is possible for thee to correct by teach- 
 ing the man who is gone astray ; for every man 
 who errs misses his object and is gone astray. 
 Besides wherein hast thou been injured ? For 
 thou wilt find that no one among those against 
 
whom thou art irritated has done anything by 
 wliich thy mind could be made worse ; but that 
 wlrich is evil to thee and harmful has its foun- 
 dation only in the mind. And what harm is 
 done or Mdiat is there strange, if the man who 
 has not been instructed does the acts of an un- 
 instrncted man ? Consider whether thou shouldst 
 not rather blame thyself, because thou didst 
 not expect such a man to err in such a way. 
 For thou liadst means given thee by thy reason 
 to suppose that it was likely that he would com- 
 mit this error, and yet thou hast forgotten and 
 art amazed that he has erred. But most of all 
 when thou blamest a man as faithless or un- 
 grateful, turn to thyself. For the fault is man- 
 ifestly thy own, whether thou didst trust that 
 a man who had such a disposition would keep 
 his promise, or when conferring thy kindness 
 thou didst not confer it absolutely, nor yet in 
 such way as to have received from thy very act 
 all the profit. For what more dost thou want 
 when thou hast done a man a service? art thou 
 not content that thou hast done something con- 
 formable to thy nature, and dost thou seek to 
 be paid for it? just as if the eye demanded a 
 recompense for seeing, or the feet for walking. 
 For as these members are formed for a par- 
 ticular purpose, and by working according to 
 their several constitutions obtain what is their 
 own ; so also as man is formed by nature to 
 acts of benevolence when he has done anything 
 benevolent or in any other way conducive to 
 the common interest, he has acted conformably 
 to his coustitution and he gets what is his own. 
 
Jf, AUSSLIUS AJfTONINUB. 161 
 
 Wilt thou then, my soul, never be good and 
 simple and one and nuked, more manifest tliau 
 the body which surrounds thee ? Wilt thou 
 never enjoy an affectionate and contented dis- 
 position ? Wilt thou never be full and without 
 a want of any kind, longing for nothing more, 
 nor desiring anything either animate or inani- 
 mate for the enjoyment of pleasures? nor yet de- 
 siring time wherein thou shalt liave longer en- 
 joyment, or place, or pleasant climate, or s<jciety 
 of men with whom thou mayest live in harmony ? 
 but wilt thou be satisfied with thy present con- 
 dition, and pleased with all that is about thee, 
 and wilt thou convince thyself that thou hast 
 everything and that it comes from the gods, that 
 everj-thing is well for thee and will be well what- 
 ever shall please them, and whatever they shall 
 give for the conservation of the perfect living 
 being, the good and just and beautiful, which 
 generates and holds together ail things, and con- 
 tains and embraces all things which are dis- 
 solved for the production f f other like things? 
 Wilt thou never be such that thou shalt so 
 dwell in community with gods iind men as neither 
 to find fault with them at all nor to be con- 
 demned by them ? 
 
 2. Observe what thy nature requires, so far as 
 thou art governed by nature only : then do it 
 and accept it, if thy nature, so far as thou art a 
 living being, shall not be made worse by it. 
 And next thou must observe what thy nature 
 requires so far as thou art a living being. And 
 all this thou mayest nllow thyself, if thy nature, 
 «o far as thou art a rational animal, shall not be 
 jiWtd^ worse by it. But the rational animal is 
 
1^2 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 consequently also a political [social] animal. 
 Use these rules then and trouble thyself about 
 nothing else. 
 
 3. Everything which happens either happens 
 in such wise that thou art formed by nature to 
 bear it, or that thou art not formed by nature 
 to bear it. If then it happens to thee in such 
 way that thou art formed by nature to bear it, 
 do not complain, but bear it as thou art formed 
 by nature to bear it. But if it happens in such wise 
 that thou art not able to bear it, do not complain, 
 for it will perish after it has consumed thee. 
 Remember however that thou art formed by 
 nature to bear everything, with respect to which 
 it depends on thy own opinion to make it endur- 
 able and tolerable, by thinking that it is either 
 thy interest or thy duty to do this. 
 
 4. If a man is mistaken, instruct him kindly 
 and show him his error. But if thou art not 
 able, blame thyself, or blame not even thyself. 
 
 5. Whatever may happen to thee, it was pre- 
 pared for thee from all eternity; and the impli- 
 cation of causes was from eternity spinning the 
 thread of thy being and of that which is incident 
 to it. (III. 11 ; IV. 26.) 
 
 6. Whether the universe is [a concourse of] 
 atoms, or nature [is a system], let this first be 
 established, that I am a part of the whole 
 which is governed by nature ; next, I am in a 
 manner intimately related to the parts which 
 are of the same kind with mj^'self. For remem- 
 bering this, inasmuch as I am a part, I shall be 
 discontented with none of the things which are 
 assigned to me out of the whole ; for nothing 
 is injurious to the part, if it is for the advantage 
 of the whole. For the whole contains noth- 
 ing which is not for its advantage; and all 
 natures indeed have this common principle, 
 but the nature of the universe has this principle 
 besides, that it cannot be compelled even 
 by any external cause to generate anything 
 harmful to itself. Bj remembering then, that I 
 
M. AUBELIUB ANTONII^U^. l58 
 
 am a part of such a whole, I shall be content 
 with everything that happens. -And inasmuch 
 as I am in a manner intimately related to the 
 parts which are of the same kind with myself, I 
 shall do nothing unsocial, but I shall rather di- 
 lect myself to the things which are of the same 
 kind with myself, and I shall turn all my efforts 
 to the common interest, and divert them from 
 the contrary. Now if these things are done so, 
 life must flow on happily, just as thou mayest 
 observe tliat the life of a citizen is happy, who 
 ontinues a course of action which is advantage- 
 '- to his fellow-citizens, and is content with 
 wl. tever the state may assign to him. 
 
 7. The parts of the whole, everything I mean 
 . which is naturally comprehended in the universe, 
 must of necessity perish; but let this be under- 
 stood in this sense, that they must undergo 
 change. But if this is naturally both an evil 
 and a necessity for the parts, the whole would 
 not continue to exist in a good condition, the 
 parts being subject to change and constituted so 
 as to perish in various ways. For whether did 
 nature herself design to do evil to the things 
 which are parts of herself, and to make them 
 subject to evil and of necessity fall into evil, or 
 have such results happened Avithout her know- 
 ing it ? Both these suppositions indeed are in- 
 credible. But if a man should even drop the 
 term Nature [as an efficient power] and should 
 speak of these things [change] as natural, even 
 then it would be ridiculous to affirm at the same 
 time that the parts of the whole are in their 
 nature subject to change, and at the same time 
 to be sur]3rised or vexed as if something were 
 happening contrary to nature, particularly as 
 the dissolution of thino-s is into those things of 
 which each thing is composed, For there is 
 either a dispersion of the elements out of which 
 everything has been compounded, or a change 
 from the solid to the earthy and from the airy 
 t© the aerial, so that these parts are taken back 
 
154, TBOUGHTS OF TME UMPSBOR 
 
 into the universal reason, whetlier tMs at certain 
 periods is consumed by fire or renewed by eter- 
 nal changes. And do not imagine that the solid 
 and the airy part belong to thee from the time 
 of generation. For all this received its accretion 
 only yesterday and the day before, as one may say, 
 from the food and the air which is inspired. 
 This then, which has received [the accretion], 
 changes, not that wldch thy mother brought 
 forth. But suppose that this [which thy mother 
 brought forth] implicates thee very much with 
 that other part, which has the peculiar quality 
 [of change], this is nothing in fact in the way 
 of objection to what is said.^ 
 
 8. When thou hast assumed these names, 
 good, modest, true, rational, a man of equa- 
 nimity, and magnanimous, take care that thou 
 dost not change these names ; and if thou 
 shouldst lose them, quickly return to them. 
 And remember that the term Rational was in- 
 tended to signify a descriminating attention to 
 every several thing and freedom from negli- 
 gence: and that Equanimity is the voluntary ac- 
 ceptance of the things which are assigned to thee 
 by the common nature ; and that Magnanimity 
 is the elevation of the intelligent part above the 
 pleasurable or painful sensations of the flesh 
 and above that poor thing called fame, and 
 death, and all such things. If then thou main- 
 tainest thyself in the possession of these names, 
 without desiring to be called by these names by 
 others, thou wilt be another person and wilt 
 enter on another life. For to continue to be 
 such as thou hast hitherto been, and to be torn 
 in pieces and defiled in such a life, is the charac- 
 ter of a very stupid man and one overfond of 
 his life, and like those half-devoured fighters 
 with wild beasts, who though covered with 
 wounds and gore, still entreat to be kept to the 
 
 1 The end of this section is perhaps corrupt. The mean- 
 Ing is very obscure. I have given that meaning which Ap^ 
 j^»xu to be consifttent with tb« whole argumenU 
 
Jf. AVRHLIUS ANTON JNirS. 155 
 
 following day, though they will be exposed ia 
 the same state to the same claws and bites. 
 Therefore fix thyself in the possession of these 
 few names ; and if thou art able to abide in 
 them, abide as if thou wast removed to certain 
 islands of the Happy .^ But if thou shalt per- 
 ceive that thou fallest out of them and dust not 
 maintain thy hold, go courageously into some 
 nook where thou shalt maintain them, or even 
 depart at once from life, not in passion, but with 
 simplicity and freedom and modesty, after doing 
 this one [laudable] thing at least in thy life, to 
 have gone out of it thus. In order however to 
 the remembrance of these names, it will greatly 
 help thee, if thou rememberest the gods and 
 that they wish not to be flattered, but wish all 
 reasonable beings to be made like themselves ; 
 and if thou rememberest that what does tlie 
 work of a fig-tree is a fig-tree, and that what 
 does the work of a dog is a dog, and that what 
 does the work of a bee is a bee, and that Avhat 
 does the work of a man is a man. 
 
 9. Mimi,^ war, astonishment, torpor, slavery, 
 
 * Tbe islands of the Happy or tlie Fortuiiatae Insulae are 
 spoken of by the Greek and Roman writers. Tliey were the 
 abode of Heroes, like Achilles ami Diomedes. as we see in 
 the Scolion of Harmodius and ArisLogiton. bertorius heard 
 of the islands at Cadiz from some sailoi-s who had been 
 there, and he had a wish to go and live in them and rest 
 from liis troubles. (Plutarch, Sertorius, c. 8.) In the Odys- 
 sey, Proteus told Menelaus that he should not die in Argos, 
 but he removed to a place at the boundary of the 6arth where 
 Khadamanthus dwelt : (Odyssey, iv.565.) 
 
 For there in sooth man's life is easiest : 
 Nor snow nor raging storm nor rain is there, 
 But ever gently breathing gales of Zephyr 
 Oceanus sends up to gladden man. 
 
 It is certain that the writer of the Odyssey only follows 
 some old legend without having any knowledge of any place 
 which corresponds to liis description. The two islands 
 which Sertorius heard of may be iladeira and the adjacent 
 island. 
 
 ^ Corae conjectured jUtiros *' hatred " in place of MimI, 
 Koman plays in which action and gesticulation were all OT 
 nearly all, 
 
156; THOUGHTS OF THE EMPSBOB 
 
 will daily wipe out those holy principles of thine. 
 f How many things without studying nature 
 dost thou imagine and how many dost thou 
 neglect?* But it is thy duty so to look on and 
 so to do everything, that at the same time the 
 power of dealing with circumstances is per'^ect- 
 ed, and the contemplative faculty is exerc. "'d, 
 and the confidence which comes from the Knc ^- 
 edge of each several thing is maintained wii- 
 out showing it, but j^etnot concealed. For when 
 wilt thou enjoy simplicity, when gravity, and 
 when the knowledge of every several thing, both 
 what it is in substance, and what place it has in 
 the universe, and how long it is formed to exist 
 and of what things it is compounded, and to 
 whom it can belong, and who are able both to 
 give it and take it away ? 
 
 10. A spider is proud when it has caught a 
 fly, and another when he has caught a poor 
 hare, and another when he has taken a little 
 fish in a net, and another when he has taken 
 wild boars, and another when he has taken bears 
 and another when he has taken Sarmatians. 
 Are not these robbers if thou examinest their 
 principles ?^ 
 
 11. Acquire the contemplative way of seeing 
 how all things change into one another, and 
 constantly attend to it, and exercise thyself 
 about this part [of philosophy]. For nothing 
 is so much adapted to produce magnanimity. 
 Such a man has put off the body, and as he sees 
 that he must, no one knows how soon, go away 
 from among men and leave everything here, he 
 gives himself up entirely to just doing in all his 
 actions, and in everything else that happens he 
 resigns himself to the universal nature. But as 
 to Avhat any man shall say or think about him 
 or do against him, he never even thinks of it, 
 
 * This is corrupt. 
 
 ^ Marcus means to say that conquerors are robbers. He 
 himself warred against Sarmatians, an4 was ft robber, as h.^ 
 says, Ulie tlie rest, 
 
M. AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. 157 
 
 being himself contented with these two things, 
 with acting justly in what he now does, and 
 beiiig satislied with what is now assigned to him ; 
 and he lays aside all distracting and busy pur- 
 suits and desires nothing else than to accom- 
 plish the straight course through the law,^ and 
 by accomplishing the straight course to follow 
 god. 
 
 12. What need is there of suspicious fear, 
 since it is in thy power to inquire what oughb 
 to be done ? And if thou seest clear, go by this 
 way content, witliout turning back: but if thoq 
 dost not see clear, stop and .take the best ad- 
 visers. But if any other things oppose thee, go 
 on according to thy powers with due considera- 
 tion, keeping to that which appears to be just. 
 For it is best to reach tlx'.s object, and if thou 
 dost fail, let thy failure be in attempting this. 
 He who follows reason in all things is both tran- 
 quil and active at the same time, and also cheer- 
 ful and collected. 
 
 13. Inquire of thyself as soon as thou wakest 
 from sleep, whether it will make any difference 
 to thee, if another does what is just and right. 
 It will mr.ke no difference. 
 
 Hast thou forgotten tlxat those who assume 
 arrogant airs in bestowing their praise or blame 
 on others, are such as they are at bed and at 
 board, and hast thou forgotten what they do, 
 and what they avoid and what they pursue, and 
 how they steal and how they rob, not with 
 hands and feet, but with their most valuable 
 part, by means of which there is produced, when 
 a man chooses, fidelity, modesty, truth, law, a 
 good daemon [happiness] ? (vii. 17.) 
 
 14. To her who gives and takes back all, to 
 nature, the man who is instructed and modest 
 says : Give what thou wilt ; take back what 
 thou wilt. And he says this not proudly, but 
 obediently and well pleased with her. 
 
 •5 Bv the law, he means the divine law, obedience to th« 
 Will of God. 
 
158. THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 15. Sbcrt is the little which remains to thee 
 of life. Live as on a mountain. For it makes 
 no difference whether a man lives there or here, 
 if he lives everywhere in the world as in a state 
 [political community]. Let men see, let them 
 know a real man who lives according to nature. 
 If they cannot endure him, let them kill him. 
 For that is better than to live thus [as men 
 do]. 
 
 16. No longer talk about the kind of man 
 that a good man ought to be, but be such. 
 
 17. Constantly contemplate the whole of time 
 and the whole of substance, and consider that 
 all individual things as to substance are a grain 
 of a fig, and as to time, the turning of a gimlet. 
 
 18. Look at everything that exists and ob- 
 serve that it is already in dissolution and in 
 change and as it were putrefaction or dispersion, 
 or that everything is so constituted by nature 
 as to die. 
 
 19. Consider what men are when they are 
 eating, sleeping, generating, easing themselves 
 and so forth. Then wliat kind of men they are 
 when they are imperious f and arrogant, or an- 
 gry and scolding from their elevated place. But 
 a short time ago to how many they were slaves 
 and for what things ; and after a little time con- 
 sider in what a condition thej^ will be. 
 
 20. That is for the good of each thing, which 
 the universal nature brings to each. And it is 
 for its good at the time when nature brings it. 
 
 21. " The earth loves the shower; " and " the 
 solemn aether loves : " and the universe loves 
 to make whatever is about to be. I say then to 
 the universe, that I love as thou lovest. And 
 is not this too said, that " this or that loves [is 
 wont] to be produced? " '^ 
 
 ■^ These words are from Euripides. They are cited by 
 Aristotle, Ethic. Nicom. viii. 1. Athenaeus (xiii. 296.), 
 and Stobaeus quote seven complete lines beginning ipa fikv 
 Sn^pcrv yala. There is a similar fragment of ^schylus. 
 
 It was the fashion of the Stoics to work on the meanings of 
 wprds. So Antoninus here takes the verb <f>i.\el, " lovesj" 
 
M. AUMELIUS ANTOmNUS. 1^9 
 
 22. Either thou livest here and hast already 
 accustomed thyself to it, or thou art going away, 
 and this was thy own will ; or thou art dying 
 and hast discharged thy duty. But besides 
 these things there is nothing. Be of good cheer 
 then. 
 
 23. Let this always be plain to thee, that this 
 piece of land is like any other ; and that all 
 things here are the same with things on the top 
 of a mountain, or on the sea-shore, or wherever 
 thou choosest to be. For thou wilt find just 
 what Plato says. Making the walls of the city 
 like a shepherd's fold on a mountain. [The 
 three last words are omitted. They are unin- 
 telligible.] ^ 
 
 24. What is my ruling faculty now to me? 
 and of what nature am I now making it ? and 
 for what purpose am I now using it? is it void 
 of understanding ? is it loosed and rent asunder 
 from social life? is it melted into and mixed 
 with the poor flesh so as to move together with 
 it? 
 
 25. He who flies from his master is a run- 
 away ; but the law is inaster, and he who breaks 
 the law is a runaway. And he also who is 
 grieved or angry or afraid,f is dissatisfied be- 
 cause something has been or is or shall be of the 
 things which are appointed by him who rules all 
 tilings, aud he is Law, and assigns to every man 
 what is fit. He then Avho fears or is grieved or 
 is angry is a runawa3^^ 
 
 26. A man deposits seed in a worn j and goes 
 away, and then another cause takes it. and labors 
 
 wliicli has also the sense of "is wont," "uses," and the 
 like. He finds in tlie common language of luaakind a phil- 
 osophical truth, and most great truths are exi:ressed in the 
 common language of life ; some understand th^m, but most 
 people express them without knowing how much they 
 mean. 
 
 8 Plato, Theaet. 174 D. E. 
 
 ' Antoninus is here playing on the etymoiogy of vSfiot) 
 law, assignment, that which assigns (i^^t) to evwy man 
 ili§.£ortiofij. 
 
160 THOUGHTS OF THE EXPEBOIt. 
 
 on it and makes a child. What a thing from such 
 a material ! Again, the child passes food down 
 through the throat, and then another cause takes 
 it and makes perception and motion, and in fine 
 life and strength and other things ; how many 
 and how strange ! Observe then the things 
 ■which are produced in such a hidden way, and 
 see the power just as we see the power which 
 carries things downwards and upwards, not with 
 the eves, but still no less plainly. 
 
 27. Constantly consider how all things such 
 as they now are, in time past also were; and 
 consider that they will be the same again. And 
 place before thy eyes entire dramas and stages 
 of the same form, whatever thou hast learned 
 from thy experience or from older history ; for 
 example the whole court of Hadiianus, and the 
 whole court of Antoninus, and the whole court 
 of Philippus, Alexander, Croesus ; for all those 
 were such dramas as we see now, only with dif- 
 ferent actors. 
 
 28. Imagine every man who is grieved at any- 
 thing or discontented to be like a pig which is 
 sacrificed, and kicks and screams. 
 
 Like this pig also is he who on his bed in 
 silence laments the bonds in which we are held. 
 And consider that only to the rational animal is 
 it given to follow voluntarily what happens ; but 
 simply to follow is a necessity imposed on all. 
 
 29. Severally on the occasion of everything 
 that thou doest pause and ask thyself, if death 
 is a dreadful thing because it deprives thee of 
 this. 
 
 30. When thou art offended at any man's 
 fault, forthwith turn to thyself and reflect in 
 what like manner thou dost err thyself ; for ex- 
 ample, in thinking that money is a good thing, 
 or pleasure, or reputation and the like. For by 
 attending to this thou wilt quickly forget thy 
 anger, if this consideration also is added, that 
 the man is compelled : for what else could he 
 
M, AUSELItTS AJ^TomNUa, l^Jt 
 
 dp?, or, if thou art able, take away from him tl|© 
 compulsion. 
 
 31. When thou hast seen Satyron the Socratic,t 
 think of eioher Eutyches or Hymen, and when 
 thou hast been Euphrates, think of Eutycljion or 
 Silvanus, and when thou hast seen Alciphron 
 think of Tropaeophorus, and when thou hast seea 
 Xenophon think of Crito or Severus, and when 
 thou hast looked on thyself, think of any other 
 Gaesar, and in the case of every one do in like 
 manner. Then let this thought be in thy mind. 
 Where then are those men? Nowhere, ornobody 
 knows where. For thus continuously thou wilt 
 look at human things as smoke and nothing at 
 all ; especially if thou reflectest at the same time 
 that what has once changed will never exist 
 again in the infinite duration of time. But thou, 
 in what a brief space of time is thy existence? 
 And why art thou not content to pass through 
 this short time in an orderly way ? What matter 
 and opportunity [for thy activity] art thou avoid- 
 ing ? For what else are all these things, except 
 exercises for the reason, when it has viewed 
 carefully and by examination into their nature 
 the things which happen in life ? Persevere 
 then until thou shalt have made these things 
 thy own, as the stomach which is strengthened 
 makes all things its own, eis the blazing fire 
 makes flame and brightness out of everything 
 that is thrown into it. 
 
 32. Let it not be in any man's power to say 
 truly of thee that thou art not simple or that thou 
 art not good ; but let him be a liar whoever shall 
 think anything of this kind about thee ; and this 
 is altogether in thy power. For who is he that 
 shall hinder thee from being good and simple ? 
 Do thou only determine to live no longer, unless 
 thou shalt be such. For neither does reasoa 
 allow [thee to live], if thou art not such. 
 
 33. What is that which as to this material [our 
 life] can be done or said in the way most con- 
 formable to reason ? For whatever this may be, 
 
 1 
 
162 THOUGHTS OF IHH; MMP£!ltOM 
 
 it is in tliy power to do it or to say it; and do not 
 make excuses that thou art hindered. Thou wilt 
 not cease to lament till thy mind is in such a con- 
 dition, that, what luxury is to those who enjoy 
 pleasure, such shall be to thee, in the matter 
 which is subjected and presented to thee, the 
 doing of the things which are conformable to 
 man's constitution ; for a man ought to consider as 
 an enjoyment everything which it is in his power 
 to do according to his own nature. And it is in his 
 power everywhere. Not, it is not given to a 
 cylinder to move everywhere by its own motion, 
 nor yet to water nor fire, nor to anything else 
 which is governed by nature or an irrational 
 soul, for the things which check them and stand 
 in the way are many. But intelligence and rea- 
 son are able to go through everything that op- 
 poses them, and in such manner as they are 
 formed by nature and as they choose. Place be- 
 fore thy eyes this facility with which the reason 
 will be carried through all things, as fire upwards, 
 as a stone downwards, as a cylinder down an in- 
 clined surface, and seek for nothing further. For 
 all other obstacles either affect the body only 
 which is a dead thing ; or, except tlirough opin- 
 ion and the yielding of the reason itself, they do 
 not crush nor do any harm of any kind ; for if 
 they did, he who felt it would immediately be- 
 come bad. Now in the case of all things which 
 have a certain constitution, whatever harm may 
 happen to any of them, that which is so affected 
 becomes consequently worse ; but in the like 
 case, a man becomes both better, if one may say 
 so, and more worthy of praise by making a right 
 use of these accidents. And finally remember 
 that nothing harms him who is really a citizen, 
 which does not harm the state ; nor yet does 
 anything harm the state, which does not harm 
 law [order] ; and of these things which are called 
 misfortunes not one harms law. What then does 
 not harm law does not harm either state or citizen. 
 
M. AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. 163 ' 
 
 84. To him who is penetrated by true princi- 
 ples even the briefest precept is sufficient, and 
 any common precept, to remind him that he should 
 be free from grief and fear. For example — 
 
 Leaves, some the wind scatters on the ground — 
 So is the race of men,^'' 
 
 Leaves also are thy children ; and leaves too are 
 they who cry out as if they were worthy of 
 credit and bestow their praise, or on the con- 
 trary curse, or secrei^iy * blame and sneer ; and 
 leaves in like manner are those who shall receive 
 and transmit a man's fame to after times. For 
 all such things as these " are produced in the 
 season of spring," as the poet says ; then the 
 wind casts them down ; then the forest produces 
 other leaves in their places. But a brief exist- 
 ence is common to all things, and yet thou 
 avoidest and pursuest all things as if they would 
 be eternal. A little time, and thou shalt close 
 thy eyes ; and him who has attended thee to thy 
 grave another soon will lament. 
 
 35. The healthy eye ought to see all visible 
 things and not to say, I wish for green things ; 
 for tliis is the condition of a diseased eye. And 
 the healthy hearing and smelling ought to be 
 ready to perceive all that can be heard and 
 smelled. And the healthy stomach ought to be 
 with respect to all food just as the mill with re- 
 spect to all things which it is formed to grind. 
 And accordingly the healthy understanding 
 ought to be prepared for everything which hap- 
 pens ; but that which says. Let my dear children 
 live, and let all men praise whatever I may do, 
 is an eye which seeks for green things, or teeth 
 which seek for soft things. 
 
 36. There is no man so fortunate that there 
 shall not be by him when he is dying some who 
 are pleased with what is going to happen. -^^ 
 Suppose that he was a good and wise man, will 
 
 » Homer, TL vi. 148. 
 
164 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEBOR. 
 
 there not be at last some one to say of Jhim, Let 
 us at last breathe freely being relieved from this 
 school-master. It is true that he was harsh to 
 none of us, but I perceived that he tacitly con- 
 demns us. — This is what is said of a good man. 
 But in our own case how many other things are 
 there for which there are many who wish to get 
 rid of us. Thou wilt consider this then when 
 thou art dying, and thou wilt depart more con- 
 tentedly by reflecting thus : I am going away 
 from such a life, in which even my associates in 
 behalf of whom I have striven so much, prayed, 
 and cared, themselves wish me to depart, hoping 
 perchance to get some little advantage by it. 
 "Why then should a man cling to a longer stay 
 here ? Do not however for this reason go away 
 less kindly disposed to them, but preserving thy 
 own character, and continuing friendly and be- 
 nevolent and kind, and on the other hand not 
 as if thou wast torn away ; but as when a man 
 dies a quiet death, the soul is easily separated 
 from the body, such also ought thy departure 
 from men to be, for nature united thee to them 
 and associated thee. But does she now dissolve 
 the union ? Well, I am separated as from kins- 
 men, not however dragged resisting, but withbut 
 compulsion ; for this too is one of the things ac- 
 cording to nature. 
 
 37. Accustom thyself as much as possible on 
 the occasion of anything being done by any per- 
 son to inquire with thyself, For what object is 
 this man doing this? but begin with thyself, 
 and examine thyself first. 
 
 38. Remember that this which pulls the strings 
 is the thing which is hidden within : this is the 
 power of persuasion, this is life, this, if one may 
 so say, is man. In contemplating thyself never 
 include the vessel which surrounds thee and 
 these instruments which are attached about it. 
 
 ^ He says KaK6v, but as he affirms in other places that 
 death is no evil, he must mean what others may call an €Svil| 
 and he means only *' what is going to happen." 
 
M. AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. 160 
 
 For they are like to an axe, differing only in 
 this that they grow to the body. For indeed 
 there is no more use in these parts without the 
 cause which moves and checks them, than in 
 the weaver's shuttle, and the writer's pen and 
 the driver's whip.^ 
 
 »3 See " The Philosophy of Antoninus." 
 
16ft THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEUOR 
 
 t 
 
 J 
 
 i XI. 
 
 These are tiie properties of the rational soul -. 
 ft sees itself, analyzes itself, and makes itself 
 such as it chooses ; the fruit which it bears it- 
 self enjoys — ^for the fruits of plants and that in 
 animals which corresponds to fruits others en- 
 joy — it obtains its own end, wherever the limit 
 of life may be fixed. Not as in a dance and in 
 a play and in such like things, where the whole 
 action is incomplete, if any tiling cuts it short ; 
 but in every part and wherever it may be 
 stopped, it makes what has been set before it 
 full and complete, so that it can say, 1 have 
 what is my own. And further it traverses the 
 whole universe, and the surrounding vacuum, 
 and surveys its form, and it extends itself into 
 the infinity of time and embraces and compre- 
 hends the periodical renovation of all things, 
 and it comprehends that those who come after 
 us will see nothing new, nor have those before 
 us seen anything more, but in a manner he who 
 is forty years old, if he has any understanding' 
 at all, has seen by virtue of the uniformity that 
 prevails all things which have been and all that 
 will be. This too is a property of the rational 
 soul, love of one's neighbor, and truth and mod- 
 esty, and to value nothing more than itself, 
 which is also the property of Law.^ Thus then 
 right reason differs not at all from the reason of 
 justice. 
 
 2. Thou wilt set little value on pleasing song 
 and dancing and the pancratium, if thou wilt 
 distribute the melody of the voice into its sev- 
 eral sounds, and ask thyself as to each, if thou 
 art mastered by this for thou wilt be prevented 
 
 *I^aw i? tbe order by which all things are govenieij. 
 
M. AITHELIUS A2fT0NmUS. 167 
 
 by sliame from confessing it : and in the matter 
 of dancing, if at each movement and attitude 
 thou wilt do the same ; and the like also in the 
 matter of the pancratium; In all things then, 
 except virtue and the acts of virtue, remember 
 to apply thyself to their several parts, and by 
 this division to come to value them little : and 
 apply this rule also to thy whole life. 
 
 3. What a soul that is which is ready, if at 
 any moment it must be separated from the body, 
 and ready either to be extinguished or dispersed 
 or continue to exist; but. so that this readiness 
 comes from a man's own judgment, not from 
 mere obstinacy, as with the Christians, but con- 
 siderately and with dignity and in a way to 
 persuade another, without tragic show. 
 
 4. Have I done something for the general in* 
 terest ? Well then I have had my reward. Let 
 tliis always be present to thy mind, and never 
 stop [doing good]. 
 
 5. What is thy art ? to be good. And how 
 is this accomplished well except by general prin- 
 ciples, some about the nature of the universe, 
 and others about the proper constitution of 
 man? 
 
 6. At first tragedies were brought on the 
 stage as means of reminding men of the things 
 which happen to them, and that it is according 
 to nature for things to happen so, and that, if 
 thou art delighted with what is shown on the 
 stage, thou shouldst not be troubled with that 
 which takes place on the larger stage. For thou 
 seest that these things must be accomplished 
 thus, and that even they bear them who cry 
 out^ " O Cithaeron." And indeed some things 
 are said well by the dramatic writers, of which 
 kind is the following especially : — 
 
 Me and my cliildren if the gods neglect. 
 This has its reason too.* 
 
 s Sophocles, CEdipus Bex. 
 • » See VII. 41. 38. 40. 
 
168: TSOHGETS OF THE EMPEBOB 
 
 And again 
 
 We must not chafe and fret at that which happens. 
 
 And 
 
 Life's harvest reap like the wheat's fruitful ear. 
 
 And other things of the same kind. 
 
 After tragedy the old comedy was introduced, 
 ■which had a magisterial freedom of speech, and 
 by its very plainness of speaking was useful in 
 reminding men to beware of insolence ; and for 
 this purpose too Diogenes used to take from 
 these writers. 
 
 But as to the middle comedy which came 
 next, observe what it was, and again for what 
 object the new comedy was introduced, which 
 gradually sunk down into a mere mimic artifice. 
 That some good things are said by these writers 
 too, everybody knows: but the whole plan of 
 such poetry and dramaturgy, to what end does 
 it look ! 
 
 7. How plain does it appear that there is not 
 another condition of life so well suited for phil- 
 osophizing as this in which thou now happenest 
 to be. 
 
 8. A branch cut off from the adjacent branch 
 .must of necessity be cut off from the whole tree 
 also. So too a man when he is separated from 
 another man has fallen off from the whole social 
 community. Now as to a branch, another cuts 
 it off, but a man by his own act separates him- 
 self from his neighbor when he hates him and 
 turns away from him, and he does not know 
 that he has at the same time cut himself off 
 from the whole social system. Yet he has this 
 privilege certainly from Zeus who framed soci- 
 ety, for it is in our power to grow again to that 
 which is near to ns and again to become a part 
 which helps to make up the whole. However 
 if it often happens, this kind of separation, it 
 makes it difficult for that which detaches itself 
 to be brought to unity and to be restored to its 
 
M. AXTR-ELIUS ANTOmNZrS. 169, 
 
 former condition. Finally, the branch, which 
 from the first grew together with the tree and 
 has continued to have one life with it, is not 
 like that which after being cut off is then in- 
 grafted, but it is something like what the gar- 
 deners mean when they say that it grows with 
 the rest of the tree, but f that it has not the 
 same mind with it. 
 
 9. As those who try to stand in thy way when 
 thou art praceeding according to right reason, 
 will not be able to turn thee aside from thy 
 proper action, so neither let them drive thee 
 from thy benevolent feelings towards them, but 
 be on thy guard equally in both matters, not 
 only in the matter of steady judgment and ac- 
 tion, but also in the matter of gentleness to- 
 wards those who try to hinder or otherwise 
 trouble thee. For this also is a weakness, to be 
 vexed at them, as well as to be diverted from 
 thy course of action and to give way through 
 fear; for both are equally deserters from their 
 post, the man who does it through fear, and the 
 man who is alienated from him who is by nat- 
 ure a kinsman and a friend. 
 
 10. There is no nature which is inferior to 
 art, for the arts imitate the natures of things. 
 But if this is so that nature which is the most 
 perfect and the most comprehensive of all nat- 
 ures cannot fall short of the skill of the art. 
 Now all arts do the inferior things for the sake 
 of the superior ; therefore the universal nature 
 does so too. And indeed hence is the origin 
 of justice, and in justice the other virtues have 
 their foundation : for justice will not be observed, 
 if we either care for middle things [things 
 indifferent], or are easily deceived and careless 
 and changeable, (v. 16. 30 ; vii. 65.) 
 
 11. If the things do not come to thee, the pur- 
 suits and avoidances of which disturb thee, still 
 iu a manner.thou goest to them. Let then thy 
 judgment about them be at rest, and they will 
 remain quiet, and thou wilt-oot be SG&n. eitber 
 pursuing or avoiding,^ 
 
I70 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 12. The spherical form of the soul maintains 
 its figure, when it is neither extended towards 
 any object, nor contracted inwards, nor dispersed 
 nor sinks down, but is illuminated by light, by 
 which it sees the truth, the truth of all things are 
 the truth that is in itself, (vin. 41. 45 ; xii. 
 3.) 
 
 18. Suppose any man shall despise me. Let 
 him look to that himself. But I will look to 
 this, that I be not discovered doing or saying 
 anything deserving of contempt. Shall any 
 man hate me ? Let him look to it. But I will 
 be mild and benevolent towards every man and 
 even to him, ready to show him his mistake, not 
 reproachfully, nor yet as making a display of 
 my endurance, but nobly and honestly, like the 
 
 freat Phocion, unless indeed he only assumed it. 
 'or the interior [parts] ought to be such, and 
 a man ought to be seen by the gods neither 
 dissatisfied with anything nor complaining. For 
 what evil is it to thee, if thou art now doing 
 what is agreeable to thy own nature and art 
 satisfied with that which at this moment is 
 suitable to the nature of the universe, since 
 thou art a human being placed at thy postf to 
 endure whatever is for the common advantage. 
 
 14. Men despise one another and flatter one 
 another ; and men wish to raise themselves above 
 one another and crouch before one another. 
 
 15. How unsound and insincere is he who 
 says, I have determined to deal with thee in a fair 
 way. — What art thou doing, man ? There is no 
 occasion to give this notice. It will soon show 
 itself by acts. The voice ought to be plainly 
 written on the forehead. Such as a man's 
 character is,t he immediately shows it in his 
 eyes, just as he who is beloved forthwith reads 
 everything in the eyes of lovers. The man who 
 is honest and good ought to be exactly like a 
 man who smells strong, so that the bystander 
 as soon as he comes near him must smell 
 whether he choose or not. But the affectation of 
 
M. AURELWS ANTONINUS. 171 
 
 simplicity is like a crooked stick.* Nothing is 
 more disgraceful than a wolfish friendship [false 
 friendship]. Avoid this most of all. The good 
 and simple and benevolent show all these things 
 in the eyes, lind there is no mistaking. 
 
 16. As to living in the best way, this power 
 is in the soul, if it be indijfferent tc things which 
 are indifferent. And it will be indiffernt, if it 
 looks on each cf these things separately and all 
 together, and 1 it remembers that not one cf 
 them produces in us an opinion about itself, nor 
 comes to us ; but these things remain immov- 
 able, and it is we ourselves who produce the 
 judgments about them, and, as we may say, 
 write them in ourselves, it being in our power 
 not to write them, and it being in our power, if 
 perchance these judgments have imperceptibly 
 got admission to our minds, to our minds to 
 wipe them out ; and if we remember also that 
 such attention will only be for a short time, 
 and then life will be at an end. Besides what 
 trouble is there at all in doing this ? For if 
 these things are according to nature, rejoice in 
 them, and they will be easy to thee : but if 
 contrary to nature, seek what is conformable 
 to thy own nature, and strive towards this, 
 even if it bring no reputation ; for every man 
 is allowed to seek his own good. 
 
 17. Consider whence each thing is come, 
 and of what it consists,! and into what it 
 changes, and what kind of a thing it will be 
 when it has changed, and that it will sustain 
 no harm. 
 
 18. [If any have offended against thee, con- 
 sider firs] : What is my relation to men, and 
 that we are made for one another ; and in another 
 respect, I was made to be set over them, as a 
 
 * Instead of (rKdXixij Saumaise reads <TKanfii^. There Is a 
 Greek proverb, a-Kan^bv ^v\ov ovhiiror 6pS6v: " You cannot make 
 acrooked stick straight. 
 
 The wolfish friendship is an allusion to the fable of ha« 
 Bheep and the wolves. 
 
172 T t: EMPEBOR 
 
 ram over the flock or a bull over the herd. But 
 examine the matter from first principles from this 
 If all things are not mere atoms, it is nature 
 whichorders all things : if this is so, the inferior 
 things exist for the sake of the superior and 
 these for the sake of one another, (n ; ix. 39 ; 
 V. 16; III. 4) 
 
 Second, consider what kind of men they are 
 at table, in bed, and so forth: and particularly, 
 under wh;it compulsions in respect of opinions 
 they are ; and as to their acts, consider with 
 what pride they do what they do. (viii. 14 ; ix. 
 34.) 
 
 Third, that if men do rightly what they do, 
 we ought not to be displeased ; but if they do 
 not right, it is plain thay they do so involun- 
 tarily and in ignorance. For as every soul is 
 unwillingly deprived of the truths so also is it 
 unwillingly deprived of the power of behaving 
 to each man according to his deserts. Accord- 
 ingly men are pained when they are called un- 
 just, ungrateful, and greedy, and in a word 
 wrong-doers to their neighbors, (vii. 62, 63 ; 
 II. 1 ; VII. 26 ; viii. 29.) 
 
 Fourth, consider that thou also doest many 
 things wrong, and that thou art a man like 
 others; and even if thou dost abstain from cer- 
 tain faults, still thou hast the disposition to 
 commit them, though either through cowardice, 
 or concern about reputation or some such mean 
 motive thou dost abstain from such faults. 
 (1. 17.) 
 
 Fifth, consider that thou dost not even under- 
 stand whether men are doing wrong or not, for 
 many things are done with a certain reference to 
 circumstances. And in short, a man must learn 
 a great deal to enable him to pass a correct 
 judgment on another man's acts. (ix. 38 ; IV. 
 61.) 
 
 Sixth, consider when thou ar': much vexed or 
 grieved, that man's life is only a moment, and 
 after a short time we are all laid out dead. (vil. 
 58; (1^.48.^ 
 
M. AVREtms ANTONINUS. t^ 
 
 Seventli, that it is not men's acts wbicll (dis- 
 turb us, for those acts have their foundation in. 
 men's ruling principles, but it is our own opin- 
 ions which disturb us. Take away these opin- 
 ions then, and resolve to dismiss thy jud.gment 
 about an act as if it were something grievous, 
 and thy anger is gone. How then shalt thou take 
 away these opinions? By reflecting that np 
 wrongful act of another brings shame on thee : 
 for unless that which is shameful is alone bad, 
 thou also must of necessity do many things 
 wrong and become a robber and everything 
 else. (v. 25 ; vii. 16.) 
 
 Eighth, consider how much more pain is 
 brought on us by the anger and vexation caused 
 by such acts than by the acts themselves, asife 
 which we are angry and vexed, (iv. 39. 49 ; vn. 
 24.) 
 
 Ninth, consider that benevolence is invincible, 
 if it be genuine, and not an affected smile and 
 acting a part. For what will the most violent 
 man do to thee, if thou continuest to be ^ "^ a 
 benevolent disposition towards him, and if, as 
 opportunity offers, thou gently admonishest hiro 
 and calmly correctest his errors at the very time 
 when he is trying to do thee harm, saying. Not 
 so, my child : we are constituted by nature for 
 something else : I shall certainly not be injured, 
 but thou art injuring thyself, my child. — And 
 show him with gentle tact and by general prin- 
 ciples that this is so, and that even bees do not 
 do as he does, nor any animals which are formed 
 by nature to be gregarious. And thou must do 
 this neither with any double meaning nor in the 
 way of reproach, but affectionately and without 
 any rancor in thy soul ; and not as if thou 
 wert lecturing him, nor yet that any bystander 
 may admire, but either when he is alone, and if 
 others are present . . .^ 
 
 Remember these nine rules, as if thou hadst 
 
 ^ It appears that there is a defect iu the text hjero. 
 
174 TSOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR 
 
 received them as a gift from the Muses, and 
 begin at last to be a man, so long as thou livest. 
 But thou must equally avoid flattering men and 
 being vexed at them, for both are unsocial and 
 lead to harm. And let this truth be present to 
 thee in the excitement of anger, that to be 
 moved by passion is not manly, but that mild- 
 ness and gentleness, as they are more agreeable 
 to human nature, so also are they more manly ; 
 and he who possesses these qualities possesses 
 strength, nerves, and courage, and not the man 
 who is subject to fits of passion and discontent. 
 For in the same degree in which a man's mind 
 is nearer to freedom from all passion, in the 
 same degree also is it nearer to strength : and 
 as the sense of pain is a characteristic of weak- 
 ness, so also is anger. For he who yields to 
 pain and he who yields to anger, both are 
 wounded and both submit. But if thou wilt, 
 receive also a tenth present from the leader of 
 the Muses [Apollo], and it is this — that to ex- 
 pect bad men not to do wrong is madness, for 
 he who expects this desires an impossibility. 
 But to allow men to behave so to others, and to 
 expect them not to do thee any wrong, is irra- 
 tional and tyrannical. 
 
 ' 19. There are four principal aberrations of 
 the superior faculty against which thou shouldst 
 be constantly on thy guard, and when thou hast 
 detected them, thou shouldst wipe them out and 
 say on each occasion thus : this thought is not 
 iiecessary : this tends to destroy social union : 
 this which thou art going to say comes not from 
 the real thoughts ; for thou shouldst consider it 
 among the most absurd of things for a man not 
 to speak from his real thoughts. But the fourth 
 is when thou, shalt reproachf thyself for any- 
 thing, for this is an evidence of the diviner part 
 within thee being overpowered and jdelding to 
 the less honorable and to the perishable part, 
 the body, and to its gross pleasures, (iv. 24 ; 
 
 n. 16.) 
 
M. AVRELIUS ANTONINUS. 175 
 
 20. Thy aerial part and all the fiery parts 
 which are mingled in thee, though by nature 
 they have an upward tendency, still in obedience 
 to the disposition of the universe they are over- 
 powered here in the compound mass [the body]. 
 And also the whole of the earthy part in thee 
 and the watery, though their tendency is down- 
 ward, still are raised up and occupy a position 
 which is not their natural one. In this manner 
 then the elemental parts obey the universal, for 
 when they have been fixed in any place perforce 
 they remain there until agahi the universal shall 
 sound the signal for dissolution. Is it not then 
 strange that thy intelligent part only should be 
 disobedient and discontented with its own place ? 
 And yet no force is imposed on it, but only those 
 things which are conformable to its nature ; still 
 it does not submit, but is carried in the opposite 
 direction. For the movement towards injustice 
 and intemperance and to anger and grief and 
 fear is nothing else than the act of one who de- 
 viates from nature. And also when tlie ruling 
 faculty is discontented with anything that hap- 
 pens, then too it deserts its post : for it is con- 
 stituted for piety and reverence towards the gods 
 no less than for justice. For these qualities also 
 are comprehended under the generic term of 
 contentment with the constitution of things, 
 and indeed they are prior ^ to acts of justice. 
 
 ^ The word Trpeo-^i^raey which is here translated "prior," 
 may also mean "superior :" but Antoninus seems to say 
 that piety and reverence of the gods precede all virtues, and 
 that other virtues are derived from them, even justice, which 
 in another passage (xi. 10) he makes the foundation of all 
 virtues. The ancient notion of justice is that of giving to 
 every one his due. It is not a legal definition, as some have 
 supposed, but a moral rule which law cannot in all cases 
 enforce. Besides law has its own rules, which are some- 
 times moral and sometimes immoral ; but it enforces them 
 all simply because they are general rules, and if it did not 
 or could not enforce them, so far Law would not be Law. 
 Justice, or the doing of what is just, implies a universal 
 and obedience to it ; and as we all live under universal Law, 
 which commands both our body and our intelligence, and 
 is the law of our nature, that is the law of the whole consti- 
 
176 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEBOR. 
 
 21. He who has not one and always the same 
 object in life, cannot be one and the same all 
 through his life. But what I have said is not 
 enough, unless this also is added, what this ob- 
 ject ought to be. For as there is not the same 
 opinion about all the things which in some Avay 
 or other are considered by the majority to be 
 good, but only about some certain things, that 
 is, things which concern the common interest ; so 
 also ought we to propose to ourselves an object 
 which shall be of a common kind [social] and 
 political. For he who directs all his own efforts 
 to this object, will make all his acts alike, and 
 thus will always be the same. 
 
 22. Think of the country mouse and of the 
 town mouse, and of the alarm and trepidation of 
 the town mouse.'^ 
 
 23. Socrates used to call the opinions of the 
 many by the name of Lamiae, bugbears to fright- 
 en childicn. 
 
 24. The Lacedaemonians at their public spec- 
 tacles used to set seats in the shade for strangers, 
 but themselves sat down anywhere. 
 
 25. Socrates excused himself to I erdiecas ^ 
 for not going to him, saying. It is because I 
 would not perish by the worst of all ends, that 
 is, I would not receive a favor and then be un- 
 able to return it. 
 
 26. In the writings of the [Ephesians] ^ there 
 was this precept, constantly to think of some 
 one of the men of former times who practised 
 virtue. 
 
 27. The Pythagoreans bid us in the morning 
 look to the heavens that we may be reminded of 
 
 tution of man, we must endeavor to discover what this su- 
 preme Law is. It is the will of the power that rules all. 
 By acting in obedience to this will, we do justice, and by 
 consequence everything else that we ought to do. 
 
 '' The story is told by Horace in his Satires (ii. 6), and by 
 others since, but not better. 
 
 * Perhaps the emperor made a mistake here, for other 
 writers say that it was Archelaus, the son ot Perdiccas, 
 who invited Socrates to Macedonia. 
 
 *Gatsaker suggested ' EinKovpiiuv for ' Efefflay, 
 
M. AUEELIUS ANTONINUS. Vf ^ 
 
 those bodies whicli continually do the same 
 things and in the same manner perform their 
 work, and also be reminded of their purity and 
 nudity. For there is no veil over a star. 
 
 28. Consider what a man Socrates was when 
 he dressed himself in a skin, after Xanthippe 
 had taken his cloak and gone out, and what 
 Socrates said to his friends who were ashamed 
 of him and drew back from him when they saw 
 him dressed thus. 
 
 29. Neither in writing nor in reading wilt thou 
 be able to lay down rules for others before thou 
 shalt have first learned to obey rules thyself. 
 Much more is this so in life. 
 
 30. A slave thou art : free speech is not for 
 
 thee. 
 
 31. And my heart laughed within. (Od. 
 
 IX. 413.) 
 
 32. And virtue they will curse speaking harsh 
 
 words. (Hesiod, Works and Dat/s, 184.') 
 
 33. To look for the fig in winter is a madman's 
 act : such is he who looks for his child when it 
 is no longer allowed. (Epictetus, in. 24.) 
 
 34. When a man kisses his child, said Epicte- 
 tus, he should whisper to himself, " To-morroAV 
 perchance thou wilt die" — But those are words 
 of bad omen — " No word is a word of bad 
 omen," said Epictetus, " wliich expresses any 
 work of nature ; or if it is so, it is also a word 
 of bad omen to speak of the ears of corn being 
 reaped." (Epictetus, iii. 24.) 
 
 35. The unripe grape, the ripe bunch, the 
 dried grape, all are changes, not into nothing, 
 but into something which exists not yet. (Epic- 
 tetus, III. 24.) 
 
 36. No man can rob us of our free will. 
 (Epictetus, in. 22.) 
 
 37. Epictetus also said, a man must discover 
 an art [or rules] with respect to giving his as- 
 sent ; and in respect to his movements he must 
 be careful that they be made with regard to cir- 
 cumstances, that they be consistent with social 
 
 12 
 
ITS THOUGHTS OF THE EMFEKOB 
 
 interests, that they have regard to the value of 
 the object ; and as to sensual desire, he should 
 altogether keep away from it ; and as to avoid- 
 ance, [aversion] he should not show it with re- 
 spect to any of the things which are not in our 
 power. 
 
 38. The dispute then, he said, is not about 
 any common matter, but about being mad or 
 not. 
 
 39. Socrates used to say, What do you want? 
 Souls of rational men or irrational ? — Souls of 
 rational men — Of what rational men ? Sound or 
 unsound ? — Sound — Why then do you not seek 
 for them ? — Because we have them — Why then 
 do you fight and quarrel? 
 
M.AVBl:Lma ANTONINUS, 179 
 
 XII. 
 
 All those things at which thou wishest 
 to arrive by a circuitous road, thou canst have 
 now, if tliou dost not refuse them to thyself. 
 And this means, if thou wilt take no notice of all 
 the past, and trust the future to providence, and 
 direct tlie present only conformabl}^ to pipty and 
 justice. Conformably to piety, that thou niayst be 
 content with the lot which is assigned to thee, 
 for nature designed it for thee and thee for it. 
 Conform abl}^ to justice, tliat thou mayst always 
 speak the truth freely and without disguise, and 
 do the things which are agreeable to law and ac- 
 cording to the worth of each. And let neither 
 another man's wickedness hinder tliee, nor opin- 
 ion nor voice, nor yet the sensations of tlie poor 
 flesh wliich has grown about thee ; for the pas- 
 sive part will look to this. If then, whatever 
 the time may be when thou shalt be near to thy 
 departure, neglecting everj^thing else thou shalt 
 respect only thy ruling faculty and the divinity 
 within thee, and if thou shalt be afraid not be- 
 cause thou must some time ceaSe to live, but if 
 thou shalt fear never to have begun to live ac- 
 cording to nature — then thou wilt be a man 
 worthy of the universe which has produced thee, 
 and thou wilt cease to be a stranger in thy na- 
 tive land, and to wonder at things which happen 
 daily as if they were something unexpected, and 
 to be dependent on this or that. 
 
 2. God sees the minds (ruling principles) of 
 all men bared of the material vesture and rind 
 and impurities. With his intellectual part alone 
 he touches the intelligence only which has flow- 
 ed and been derived from himself iato these 
 bodies. And if thou also usest thyt;elf to do 
 
180 THOUGHTS 0^ TBS EMPEROIt 
 
 this, thou wilt rid thyself of thy much trouble. 
 For lie wh'o regards not the poor flesh which en- 
 velopes him, surely will not trouble himself by 
 looking after raiment and dwelling and fame 
 and such like externals and show. 
 
 3. The things are three of which thou art 
 composed, body, breath [life], intelligence. Of 
 these the first two are thine, so far as it is thy 
 duty to take care of them ; but the third alone 
 is properly thine. Therefore if thou shalt sepa- 
 rate from thyself, that is, from thy understand- 
 ing, whatever others do or say, and whatever 
 thou hast done or said thyself, and whatever 
 future things trouble thee because they may 
 happen, and whatever in the body which envel- 
 opes thee or in the breath, [life] which is by 
 nature associated with the body, is attached to 
 thee independent of thy will, and whatever the 
 external circumfluent vortex whirls round, so 
 that the intellectual power exempt from the 
 things of fate can live pure and free by itself, 
 doing what is just and accepting what happens 
 and saying the truth : if thou wilt separate, I 
 say, from this ruling faculty the things which 
 are attached to it by the impressions of sense, 
 and the things of time to come and of time that 
 is past, and wilt make thyself like Empedocles' 
 sphere, — 
 
 All round and in its joyous rest reposing.^ 
 and if thou shalt strive to live only what is really 
 thy life, that is, the present — then thou wilt be 
 able to pass that portion of life which remains for 
 thee up to the time of thy death, free from per- 
 turbations, nobly, and obedient to thy own dae- 
 mon [to the god that is within, thee], (ii. 13. 
 17 ; III. 5, 6 ; xi. 12.) 
 
 4. I have often wondered how it is that every 
 man loves himself more than all the rest of men, 
 but yet sets less value on his own opinion of 
 
 ^ The verse of Empedocles is corrupt in Antoninus. It 
 has been restored by Peyron thus : 
 
M. AVnSLtVS ANTONINUS: 181 
 
 I 
 
 timself than on the opinion of others. If then 
 a god or a wise teacher should present himself 
 to a man and bid him to think of nothing and 
 to design nothing which he would not express 
 as soon as he conceived it, he could not endure 
 it even for a single day. So much more respect 
 have we to what our neighbors shall think of us 
 than to what we shall think of ourselves. 
 
 5. How can it be that the gods after having 
 arranged all things well and benevolently for 
 mankind, have overlooked this alone, that some 
 men and very good men, and men who, as we 
 may say, have had most communion with the 
 divinity, and through pious acts and religious 
 observances have been most intimate with the 
 divinity, when they have once died should 
 never exist again, but should be completely ex- 
 tinguished ? 
 
 But if this is so, be assured that if it ought 
 to have been otherwise, the gods would have 
 done it. For if it were just, it would also be 
 possible ; and if it were according to nature, 
 nature would have had it so. But because it is, 
 not so, if in fact it is not so, be thou convinced 
 that it ought not to have been so : — for thou 
 seest even of thyself that in this inquiry thou 
 art disputing with the deity ; and we should 
 not thus dispute with the gods, unless they were 
 most excellent and most just ; — but if this is so, 
 they would not have allowed anything in the 
 ordering of the universe to be neglected unjust- 
 ^ and irrationally. 
 
 '. Practise thyself even in the things which 
 th», despairest of accomplishing. For even the 
 left land, which is ineffectual for all other things 
 for want of practice, holds the bridle more vigor- 
 ously than the right hand ; for it has been prac- 
 tised in this. 
 
 7. Consider in what condition both in body 
 and soul a man should be when he is overtaken 
 by death ; and consider the shortness of life the 
 boundless abyss of time past and future, th^ 
 feebleness of all matter. 
 
Ig2 TSOITGBTS OF THE UMPEBOB 
 
 8. Contemplate the formative principles [form] 
 of things bare of their coverings ; thepurposes oi 
 action ; consider what pain is, what pleasure is, 
 and death and fame ; who is to himself the cause 
 of his uneasiness ; how no man is hindered by 
 another ; that everything is opinion. 
 
 9. In the application of thy j*iinciples thou 
 must be like the pancratiast, not like the gladia- 
 tor ; for the gladiator lets fall the sword which he 
 uses and is killed ; but the other always has his 
 hand, and needs to do nothing else than use it. 
 
 10. See what things are in themselves, dividing 
 them into matter, form and purpose. 
 
 11. What a power man has to do nothing ex- 
 cept what God will approve, and to accept all 
 that God may give him. 
 
 12. With respect to that which happens con- 
 formably to nature, we ought to blame neither 
 gods, for they do nothing wrong either volunta- 
 rily or involuntarily, nor men, for they do nothing 
 wrong except involuntarily. Consequently we 
 should blame nobody, (ii. 11, 12, 13 ; vn. 62 ; 
 vrii. 17.) 
 
 13. How ridiculous and what a stranger he is 
 who is surprised at anything which happens in 
 life. 
 
 14. Either there is a fatal necessity and invin- 
 cible order, or a kind providence, or a confusion 
 without a purpose and without a director. If 
 then there is an invincible necessity, why dost 
 ihou resist ? But if there is a providence which 
 allows itself to be propitiated, make thyself wor- 
 thy of the help of the divinit3^ But if there is a 
 confusion without a governor, be content that in 
 such a tempest thoa hast in thyself a certain rul- 
 ing intelligence. And even if the tempest carry 
 thee away, let it carry away the poor flesh, the 
 breath, everything else ; for the intelligence at 
 least it will not carry away. 
 
 15. Does the light of the lamp shine without 
 losing its splendor until it is extinguished ; and 
 Bhall the truth whicji is in thee and justice and 
 
M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS. l88 
 
 temperance be extinguished [before thy death] ? 
 
 16. When a man has presented the appearance 
 of having done wrong, [say,] How then do I 
 know if this is a wrongful act ? And even if he 
 nas done wrong, how do I know that lie has not 
 (jondeinned himself ? and so this is like tearing his 
 own face. Consider that he, who would not 
 have the bad man do wrong, is like the man who 
 would not have the fig-tree to bear juice in the 
 lig-s and infants to cry and the horse to neigh, 
 and whatever else must of necessity be. For 
 wliat must a man do who has such a character ? 
 If then thou art irritable,! cure this man's dis- 
 pGsition.2 
 
 17. If it is not right, do not do it : if it is not 
 true, do not say it. [For let thy efforts bo. — ]^ 
 
 18. In everything always observe what the 
 thing is which produces for thee an appearance, 
 and resolve it by dividing it into the formal, the 
 material, the purpose, and the time within which 
 it must end. 
 
 19. Perceive at last that thou hast in ihee 
 something better and more divine than the things 
 which cause the various effects, and as it were 
 pull thee by the strings. Wliat is there now in 
 my mind? is it fear, or suspicion, or desire, or 
 anything of the kind? (v. 11.) 
 
 30. First do nothing inconsiderately, nor with- 
 out a purpose. Second, make thy acts refer to 
 nothing else than to a social end. 
 
 21. Consider that before long thou wilt be no- 
 body a,nd nowhere, nor will any of the things ex- 
 ist which thou now seest, nor any of those who 
 are now living. For all things are formed by 
 nature to change and be turned and to perish in 
 order that other things in continuous succession 
 may exist. 
 
 22 Consider that everything is opinion, and 
 
 2 The interpreters translate yopy6^ by the words " acer, va- 
 lidusque, " and '* skiilul." But in Epictetus yopy6^ means 
 *' vehement," " prone to anger," " irritable." 
 
 • There is something wrong here, or incomplete. 
 
184 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEEOB. 
 
 opinion is in thy power. Take away then, y^ \en 
 thou choosest, thy opinion, and like a marin r, 
 who was doubled the promontory, thou wilt fin J 
 calm, everything stable, and a waveless bay. 
 
 23. Any one activity whatever it may be, when 
 it has ceased at its proper time, suffers no evil be- 
 cause it has ceased ; nor he who has done this act, 
 does he suffer any evil for this reason that the 
 act has ceased. In like manner then the whole 
 which consists of all the acts, which is our life, 
 if it cease at its proper time, suffers no evil for 
 this reason that it has ceased ; nor he who has 
 terminated this series at the proper time, has he 
 been ill dealt with. But the proper time and 
 the limit nature fixes, sometimes as in old age 
 the peculiar nature of man, but always the uni- 
 versal nature, by the change of whose parts the 
 whole universe continues ever young and per- 
 fect. And everything which is useful to the 
 universal is always good and in season. There- 
 fore the termination of life for every man is no 
 evil, because neither is it shameful, since it is 
 both independent of the will and not opposed to 
 the general interest, but it is good, since it is 
 seasonable and profitable to and congruent with 
 the universal. For thus too he is moved by the 
 deity who is moved in the same manner with 
 the deity and towards the same things in his 
 mind. 
 
 24. These three principles thou must have in 
 readiness. In the things which thou doest do 
 nothing either inconsiderately or otherwise than 
 as justice herself would act ; but with respect to 
 what may happen to thee from without, consider 
 that it happens either by chance or according to 
 providence, and thou must neither blame chance 
 nor accuse providence. Second, consider what 
 every being is from the seed to the time of its 
 receiving a soul, and from the reception of a soul 
 to the giving back of the same, and of what things 
 every being is compounded and into what things 
 it is resolved. Third, if thou shouldst suddenly 
 
M. AtrnELllTS ANTomNUB. 185 
 
 be raised up above the earth, and shouldst look 
 down on human things, and observe the variety 
 of them how great it is, and at the same time also 
 shouldst see at a glance how great is the number 
 of beings who dwell all around in the air and the 
 aetlier, consider that as often as thou shouldst be 
 raised up, thou wouldst see the same things, 
 sameness of form and shortness of duration. 
 Are these things to be proud of? 
 
 25. Cast away opinion : thou art saved. Who 
 then hinders thee from casting it away? 
 
 26. When thou art troubled about anything, 
 thou hast forgotten this, that all things happen 
 according to the universal nature ; and forgotten 
 this, that a man's wrongful act is nothing to thee ; 
 and further thou hast forgotten this, that every- 
 thing which happens, always happened so and 
 will liappen so, and now happens so everywhere ; 
 forgotten this too, how close is the kinship be- 
 tween 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 tlie deity; 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. 
 
 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 for- 
 tunes of any kind ; then chink 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 Catulli- 
 nus lived in this country, and Lucius Lupus in 
 his gardens, and Stertinius at Baiae, and Tiberi- 
 us at Capreae and Velius Rufus [or Rufus at 
 Velia] ; and in fine think of the eager pursuit 
 of anything conjoined with pride; and how 
 
186 THOUOHTS OF THE EMPEROB 
 
 worthless everything is after which men vio- 
 lently strain ; and how much more philosophi- 
 cal 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. 
 
 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 ;* 
 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 ex- 
 perience of their power, from this I comprehend 
 that they exist and I venerate them. 
 
 29. The safety of life is this, to examine every- 
 thing all through, what it is itself, what is its ma- 
 terial, what its 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 t}\e smallest inter- 
 vals between ? 
 
 30. There is one light of the sun, though it is 
 
 * "Seen even with the eyes." It is supposed that this 
 may be explained by the Stoic doctrine, that the universe is 
 a god (iv. 23), and tliat the celestial bodies are gods (viii. 19), 
 But the emperor may mean that we know that thq gods 
 exist, as lie afterwards states it, because we see what they 
 do; as we know that man has intellectual powers, because 
 we see what lie 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 Colos- 
 sians (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 learn- 
 ing, 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, raundum], being 
 himself invisible, has presented himself to our eyes con- 
 spicuously in a certain visible form." He also quotes 
 Seneca (De Benef. iv. c. 8.): " Quocnnque te flexeris, ibi 
 ilium videbisoccurentum tibi: nihil ab illo vacat, opussuum 
 ipse iraplet." Compare also Cicero, De Senectute (c. 22), 
 and Xenophon's Cyropsedia. (viii. 7.) I think that my in- 
 terpretation of Antoninus is right. 
 
I 
 
 TBOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR 187 
 
 distributed over walls, mountains, and other 
 things infinite. There is one common substance, 
 though it is distributed among countless bodies 
 which have their several qualities. There is one 
 soul, though it is distributed among infinite nat- ■ 
 tires and individual circumscriptions [or individ- 
 uals]. There is oiie 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 substance, are without 
 sensation and have no fellowship : and yet even 
 these parts the intelligent principle holds together 
 and the gravitation towards the same. But intel- 
 lect in a peculiar manner tends to that which is of 
 the same kin, and combines with it, and the feel- 
 ing for communion is not interruptcJ. 
 
 31. What dost thou wish? to continue to exist ? 
 Well, dost thou wish to have sensation ? move- 
 ment ? 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 be- 
 cause by death a man will be deprived of the 
 other things. 
 
 32. How small a part of the boundless and un- 
 fathomable 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 creep- 
 est ? 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 
 
IBS M. AUEELIU8 ANTONINUS. 
 
 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 con- 
 formable 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, (m. 7 ; VI. 23 ; 
 X. 20 ; xii. 23.) 
 
 86. Man, thou hast been a citizen in this great 
 state [the world] : 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 stands 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. — "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. 
 
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