Book XII

1. All those things you drudge, and range so much ground for, you may have at your ease, unless you are afraid of making yourself too happy. Your method to do your business is not to concern yourself about the time past, for that is never to be recovered; to rest the future with Providence, and only stick to the present, and improve that to all the noble purposes of piety and justice. The pious part will be discharged by being contented with your fate; and why should you not, since nature made you for each other? And as to the obligations of justice, you will acquit yourself here, provided you speak truth boldly and above board, and make law and the dignity of things your rule to act by. Wherein you are not to be checked in your progress by the misbehaviour, the ignorance, and impertinent reports of other people, nor yet by the sensations of the body that surrounds you, for the part that suffers must look to that. To go on: If, since your life is almost up, you lay aside all other matters, and only cultivate your mind, and pay a regard to the governing and divine part of yourself; if you are not at all afraid of losing your life, but only of never beginning to live in accordance with nature, then you will act suitably to your extraction, and deserve to be the offspring of the universe; then you will be no longer a stranger in your own country, nor be surprised at common accidents; you will never be dependent on this or that.

2. God sees through the soul of every man as clearly as if it was not wrapped up in matter, nor had anything of the shroud and coarseness of body about it. And God, with his intellectual part alone, touches those beings only that have flowed and proceeded from him. Now, if you would learn to do thus, a great deal of trouble would be saved; for he that can overlook his body will hardly disturb himself about the clothes he wears, the house he dwells in, about his reputation, or any part of this pomp and magnificence.

3. You consist of three parts—your body, your breath, and your mind. The first two are yours to take care of, but the latter is properly your person. Therefore, if you abstract from the notion of yourself, that is, of your mind, whatever other people either say or do, or whatever you may have said or done yourself formerly, together with all that disturbs you under the consideration of its coming to pass hereafter; if you throw the necessary motions of your carcass out of the definition, and those of the vortex that whirls about you, and by this means preserve your rational faculties in an independent state of innocence, free from the allotments of fate, holding close and steady to the virtues of justice, truth, and acquiescence; if I say, you keep your mind separate and distinguished from the objects of appetite and the events of time, both past and future, and make yourself like Empedocles's world,

"Round as a ball in joyous rest reposing,"

and concern yourself to live no longer than your real life, that is the present moment; if you do all this, you may move on till death stops you, with credit and in harmony with the deity within you.

4. I have often wondered how it comes to pass that everybody should love themselves best, and yet value their neighbour's opinion about themselves more than their own. Therefore, if any god or eminent instructor should stand at a man's elbow and order him to turn his inside outwards, and publish every thought and fancy as fast as they came into his head, he would not submit so much as to a day's discipline; thus we stand more in awe of our neighbour's judgments than our own.

5. How comes it that since the gods have contrived all things so well, and so much to the benefit of mankind, they should overlook this particular, and suffer men of great virtue and merit, who, by their piety and devotion, were, as it were, in communion with the powers above, and kept always a correspondence with heaven, that they should suffer such men, I say, to be finally extinguished by death, and not give them their being again? Now, if the case stands thus, you may be assured had it been proper, the gods would have ordered it otherwise; for had it been right it would have been possible, and nature would certainly have brought it forth if it had been natural; therefore from its not being matter of fact, if indeed it is not, you may undoubtedly conclude it ought not to be so. For do not you perceive that in reasoning this point you dispute the administration of providence? Now, if the justice and goodness of the gods were not extraordinary, this liberty would not be allowed, neither would you presume so far if you thought otherwise; but, if they have these perfections, they will never neglect their affairs, nor blemish their world with anything that is unreasonable or unjust.

6. Accustom yourself to master things which you seem to despair of, for, if you observe, the left hand, though, for want of practice, it is insignificant in other business, yet it holds the bridle better than the right because it has been used to it.

7. Consider what death will make of you, both as to body and mind, recollect the shortness of life, the immeasurable extent of time, both past and future, and how slenderly all things are put together.

8. Let it be your method to contemplate spirits apart from the shell they are shut up in, mind the aim of people's actions, examine the value of fame, the force of pain and pleasure, and see what death amounts to, and what reputation, consider upon what account a man grows troublesome to himself, that nobody can be hindered by another, and that everything is opinion.

9. We must manage the precepts of philosophy like those that wrestle and box in the circus, and not like a gladiator; for your fencer if he drops his sword is hewn down immediately, but the other that makes weapons of his limbs has nothing to do but to keep his hands stirring.

10. Be not satisfied with a superficial view of things, but penetrate into their matter and form, and the end they were made for.

11. What a mighty privilege is a man born to, since it is in his power not to do anything but what God Almighty approves, and to be satisfied with all the distributions of Providence.

12. When things follow from the course of nature, we ought not to blame the gods, for they do no wrong either willingly or against their will, nor yet men, for their misbehaviour is all involuntary. Therefore we must complain of nobody.

13. How unacquainted is that man with the world, and how ridiculous does he appear, that makes a wonder of anything he meets with in this life!

14. Either the order of things is fixed by irrevo cable fate, or providence may be worked into compassion, or else the world floats at random without any steerage. Now if nature lies under an immovable necessity, to what purpose should you struggle against it? If the favour of providence is to be gained, qualify yourself for the divine assistance; but if chance and confusion prevail, be you contented that in such a storm you have a governing intelligence within you, and if the waves run too high, let them carry away your body, your breath, and all things else, but there is no necessity your mind should be driven with them.

15. A lamp till it is extinguished holds its light, and shines without interruption, and can you find in your heart to see your truth, honesty, and sobriety extinguished before you?

16. When you fancy anyone has transgressed, say this to yourself: How do I know it is a fault? And granting it is, it may be his conscience has corrected him, and if so, he has torn his own face. Besides, you are to remember, that to wish an evil man should not do amiss, is just as wise as it would be to desire that a fig-tree should not bear juice in the figs, that children should not squall, nor horses neigh, nor a great many other things act according to the necessity of their condition. Pray, how would you have a man of such an unfortunate disposition behave himself? If you are angry, try to cure him.

17. If it is not seemly never do it, if it is not true, never speak it, for your impulse should always be under your control.

18. Look always nicely into whatever makes an impression upon your mind, distinguishing it into cause and matter; and consider its purpose and design and the period of time, beyond which it is unlikely to continue.

19. Consider, for it is high time, that you have something more divine in you than the mechanism of passion, than the wires of a puppet. What is there now in my soul? Is it fear, or suspicion, or desire? Or anything of this coarse nature?

20. Take care never to do anything without thought, and design, nor for any other end but what may be serviceable to the interest of society.

21. Consider that in a little time you will neither have place, nor being, that your contemporaries will have the same fate, and the present scene of nature be shut up. For all things are formed by nature to change and turn and drop in pieces, that new ones may be continually made out of them.

22. Remember that all things are opinion, and that it is in your own power to think as you please. Therefore remove the opinion, and then as if you had doubled some dangerous cape, you will have nothing but a steady course, a smooth sea, and a waveless bay to receive you.

23. Every activity that ceases in due time, suffers nothing by breaking off: Neither does the agent receive any harm from this. Thus life, which is nothing but a series and continuation of action, comes to no harm by having a seasonable period put to it: Neither does he who has ended this series in due time sustain any loss. Now nature assigns the term of life; sometimes this period is fixed by particular nature, as it happens when a man dies of old age; but let it come late or early, common nature has certainly a hand in it. And thus the parts of nature changing from one form to another preserve the whole world in perpetual youth and vigour. Now that is always good and reasonable which makes for the service of the universe. From hence it follows that bare dying can be no real evil, seeing there is nothing disgraceful in it, for it is both involuntary with respect to ourselves, and serviceable to the general interest. Therefore, it is certainly a good thing, since it is suitable, and seasonable, and profitable to the universe, for he that follows the Deity with his motions, and is led by his will to the same ends, is led by God himself.

24. Let these three hints lie ready for service. First, As to your own actions let nothing be done rashly nor to no purpose, nor indeed in any other manner than justice itself would have ordered it. And as for external fortune, consider that it is the blind distribution of chance or else the appointment of providence. Now either to murmur against chance or impeach providence is extremely absurd. Secondly, Consider what a slight thing man is from his conception till he receives his soul; and from its reception till its loss; consider too the parts of his composition and the state of his dissolution. Thirdly, Consider that if you could shoot yourself at pleasure into the sky and thence take a view of human affairs, you would perceive a strange medley of condition, and discover at the same time the air, and ether too, plentifully stocked with inhabitants. And that if you mounted never so often, you would have the old prospect. Alas! things are generally of the same complexion and of the same short continuance too, and yet how strangely we are conceited of them.

25. Discharge opinion and you are safe; and pray who can hinder you from doing it?

26. When you are uneasy upon any account, you have forgotten that all things fall out according to the nature of the universe, and that another man's fault is no concern of yours, that what you reckon grievances is nothing but the old way of the world and will come over again, and is now to be met with in a thousand places. You have forgotten that all mankind are of kin, for though they may be unallied in flesh and blood, their understandings are all of the same family. You do not remember that every man's soul is a portion of the Deity, and derived from thence, that we have nothing properly our own, but that our children, our bodies, and our breath, are all borrowed from heaven, that opinion governs all, and that it is not possible for any body to live, or lose any more than the present moment. All this you seem to have forgotten.

27. Reflect frequently upon those that have formerly been mightily disturbed with accidents of any kind, that have carried their animosities and feuds to the most flaming excess, that have made the most glorious figure or met with the greatest misfortune, and then ask yourself, Where are they all now? They are vanished like a little smoke, they are nothing but ashes, and a tale, or not even a tale. Recollect likewise everything of this sort, what Fabius Catullinus did at his country seat; Lucius Lupus, in his garden; Stertinius, at Baiæ; Tiberius, at Capreæ; Rufus, at Velia, in short, the overweening importance attached to anything whatsoever; and know that the prize is insignificant, and the play not worth the candle. It is much more becoming a philosopher to stand clear of affectation, to be honest and temperate upon all occasions, and to follow cheerfully wherever the gods lead on, for nothing is more scandalous than a man that is proud of his humility.

28. To those that ask me the reason of my being so earnest in religious worship, and whether I ever saw any of the gods, or which way I am convinced of the certainty of their existence; in the first place, I answer, that the gods are not invisible. But granting they were, the objection would signify nothing, for I never had a sight of my own soul, and yet I have a great value for it. And thus by my constant experience of the power of the gods I have a proof of their being, and a reason for my veneration.

29. The best provision for a happy life is to dissect everything, view its own nature, and divide it into matter and form. To practise honesty in good earnest, and speak truth from the very soul of you. What remains but to live easy and cheerful, and crowd one good action so close to another that there may not be the least empty space between them.

30. The light of the sun is but one and the same, though it is divided by the interposition of walls and mountains, and abundance of other opaque bodies. There is but one common matter, though it is parceled out among bodies of different qualities. There is but one sensitive soul too, notwithstanding it is divided among innumerable natures and individual limitations. And lastly, the rational soul, though it seems to be split into distinction, is but one and the same. Now, excepting this last, the other parts above-mentioned, such as breath and matter, though without apprehension, or any common affection to tie them to each other, are yet upheld by an intelligent being, and by that faculty which pushes things of the same nature to the same place; but human understandings have a peculiar disposition to union; they stick together by inclination, and nothing can extinguish such sociable thoughts in them.

31. What is it you hanker after? Is it bare existence? or sensation? or motion? or strength, that you may lose it again in decay? What? Is it the privilege of speech, or the power of thinking in general? Is any of this worth desiring? If all these things are trifles, proceed to something that is worth your while, and that is to be governed by reason and the Deity. And yet you cannot be said to value these last-mentioned privileges rightly, if you are disturbed because death must take them from you.

32. What a small part of immeasurable and infinite time falls to the share of a single mortal, and how soon is every one swallowed up in eternity! What a handful of the universal matter goes to the making of a human body, and what a very little of the universal soul too! And on what a narrow clod with respect to the whole earth do you crawl upon! Consider all this, and reckon nothing great, unless it be to act in conformity to your own reason, and to suffer as the universal nature shall appoint you.

33. The great business of a man is to improve his mind, therefore consider how he does this. As for all other things, whether in our power to compass or not, they are no better than lifeless ashes and smoke.

34. We cannot have a more promising notion to set us above the fear of death, than to consider that it has been despised even by that sect who made pleasure and pain the standard of good and evil.

35. He that likes no time so well as the fitting season, he that is indifferent whether he has room for a long progress in reason or not, or whether he has a few or a great many years to view the world in, a person thus qualified will never be afraid of dying.

36. Hark ye friend; you have been a burgher of this great city, what matter though you have lived in it five years or three; if you have observed the laws of the corporation, the length or shortness of the time make no difference. Where is the hardship then if nature, that planted you here, orders your removal? You cannot say you are sent off by a tyrant or unjust judge. No; you quit the stage as fairly as a player does that has his discharge from the master of the revels. But I have only gone through three acts, and not held out to the end of the fifth. You say well; but in life three acts make the play entire. He that ordered the opening of the first scene now gives the sign for shutting up the last; you are neither accountable for one nor the other; therefore retire well satisfied, for He, by whom you are dismissed, is satisfied too.

THE END OF THE TWELVE BOOKS OF THE
EMPEROR MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS.

Notes

3. Empedocles of Agrigentum was a philosopher who flourished about 444 B.C. He was the first to establish the number of four elements. These were, he thought, acted on by two moving causes—love (combination), and strife (separation). Originally the four elements were combined in a sphere where love reigned supreme, and all was peace and harmony. Strife, which was originally outside the sphere, gradually forced its way in, and so began the period of change in which we are living. Empedocles wrote an epic describing the origin of the world, and from this the line in the text is a quotation.
34. This section refers to the Epicureans. Their doctrine made the chief good consist in pleasure, but as they believed that only virtue would afford true pleasure, their teaching was really capable of producing noble men. Our modern term "Epicurean" in no way does justice to the teaching of Epicurus and his immediate followers.