from doing few things. For the greatest part of what we say and do
being unnecessary, 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 unnecessary acts, but also, unnecessary thoughts, for
thus superfluous acts will not follow after.
Try how the life of the good man suits thee, the life of him who is
satisfied with his portion out of the whole, and satisfied with his
own just acts and benevolent disposition.
Hast thou seen those things? Look also at these. Do not disturb thyself.
Make thyself all simplicity. Does any one do wrong? It is to himself
that he does the wrong. Has anything happened to thee? Well; 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.
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
disorder in the All? And this too when all things are so separated
and diffused and sympathetic.
A black character, a womanish character, a stubborn character, bestial,
childish, animal, stupid, counterfeit, scurrilous, fraudulent, tyrannical.
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 reason; he is blind, who shuts
the eyes of the understanding; he is poor, who has need of another,
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 things which happen, for the same nature produces this, and has
produced thee too: he is a piece rent asunder from the state, who
tears his own soul from that of reasonable animals, which is one.
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.
Love the art, poor as it may be, which thou hast learned, and be content
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.
Consider, for example, the times of Vespasian. Thou wilt see all these
things, people marrying, bringing up children, sick, dying, warring,
feasting, trafficking, cultivating the ground, flattering, obstinately
arrogant, suspecting, plotting, wishing for some to die, grumbling
about the present, loving, heaping up treasure, desiring counsulship,
kingly power. Well then, that life of these people no longer exists
at all. Again, remove to the times of Trajan. Again, all is the same.
Their life too 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 proportion. For thus
thou wilt not be dissatisfied, if thou appliest thyself to smaller
matters no further than is fit.
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, Leonnatus, and a little after also Scipio
and Cato, then Augustus, then also Hadrian and Antoninus. 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,
what is even an 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 happens, as necessary, as usual, as
flowing from a principle and source of the same kind.
Willingly give thyself up to Clotho, one of the Fates, allowing her
to spin thy thread into whatever things she pleases.
Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that which
is remembered.
Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom
thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing
so much as to change the things which are and to make new things like
them. For everything 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.
Thou wilt soon die, and thou art not yet simple, not 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.
Examine men's ruling principles, even those of the wise, what kind
of things they avoid, and what kind they pursue.
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 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 contrary to nature.
Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance
and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception,
the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with
one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all
things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread
and the contexture of the web.
Thou art a little soul bearing about a corpse, as Epictetus used to
say.
It is no evil for things to undergo change, and no good for things
to subsist in consequence of change.
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 carried away too.
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 delights fools or vexes
them.
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
enumeration of disjointed things, which has only a necessary 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.
Always remember the saying of Heraclitus, that the death of earth
is to become water, and the death of water is to become 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 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
we ought not, like children who learn from their parents, simply to
act and speak as we have been taught.
If any god told thee that thou shalt die to-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 highest
degree mean-spirited- for how small is the difference?- So think it
no great thing to die after as many years as thou canst name rather
than to-morrow.
Think continually how many physicians are dead after often contracting
their eyebrows over the sick; and how many astrologers after predicting
with great pretensions the deaths of others; and how many philosophers
after endless discourses on death or immortality; 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 immortal;
and how many cities are entirely dead, so to speak, Helice and Pompeii
and Herculaneum, and others innumerable. Add to the reckoning all
whom thou hast known, one after another. 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 through 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 produced it,
and thanking the tree on which it grew.
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 nature?
Well, thou knowest the will of nature. Will then this which has happened
prevent thee from being just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, secure
against inconsiderate opinions and falsehood; will it prevent thee
from having modesty, freedom, and everything else, by the presence
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:
not that this is a misfortune, but that to bear it nobly is good fortune.
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 interval is laboriously passed. Do not then consider life a thing
of any value. 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 between him who lives three days and him
who lives three generations?
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 ostentatious display.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOK FIVE
In he morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present-
I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied
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
bed-clothes 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 unwashed and without food; but thou valuest thy own
own nature less than the turner values the turning art, or the dancer
the dancing art, or the lover of money values his money, or the vainglorious
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 eyes and less worthy of thy labour?
How easy it is to repel and to wipe away every impression which is
