Book V
1. When you find an unwillingness to rise early in the morning, make this short speech to yourself: I am getting up now to do the business of a man; and am I out of humour for going about that I was made for, and for the sake of which I was sent into the world? Was I then designed for nothing but to doze and keep warm beneath the counterpane? Well! but this is a comfortable way of living. Granting that: were you born only for pleasure? were you never to do anything? Is not action the end of your being? Pray look upon the plants and birds, the ants, spiders, and bees, and you will see them all exerting their nature, and busy in their station. Pray, shall not a man act like a man? Why do you not rouse your faculties, and hasten to act according to your nature? For all that, there is no living without rest. True; but nature has fixed a limit to eating and drinking, and here, too, you generally exceed bounds, and go beyond what is sufficient. Whereas in business you are apt to do less than lies in your power. In earnest, you have no true love for yourself. If you had, you would love your nature and honour her wishes. Now, when a man loves his trade, how he will sweat and drudge to perform to perfection. But you honour your nature less than a turner does the art of turning, a dancing-master the art of dancing. And as for wealth and popularity, how eagerly are they pursued by the vain and the covetous? All these people when they greatly desire anything, seek to attain it, might and main, and will scarcely allow themselves necessary refreshment. And now, can you think the exercise of social duties less valuable than these petty amusements, and worth less exertion?
2. What an easy matter it is to stem the current of your imagination, to discharge a troublesome or improper thought, and at once return to a state of calm.
3. Do not think any word or action beneath you which is in accordance with nature; and never be misled by the apprehension of censure or reproach. Where honesty prompts you to say or do anything, never hold it beneath you. Other people have their own guiding principles and impulses; mind them not. Go on in the straight road, pursue your own and the common interest. For to speak strictly, these two are one and the same road.
4. I will march on in the path of nature till my legs sink under me, and then I shall be at rest, and expire into that air which has given me my daily breath; fall upon that earth which has maintained my parents, helped my nurse to her milk, and supplied me with meat and drink for so many years; and though its favours have been often abused, still suffers me to tread upon it.
5. Wit and smartness are not your talent. What then? There are a great many other good qualities in which you cannot pretend nature has failed you; improve them as far as you can, and let us have that which is perfectly in your power. You may if you please behave yourself like a man of gravity and good faith, endure hardship, and despise pleasure; want but a few things, and complain of nothing; you may be gentle and magnanimous if you please, and have nothing of luxury or trifling in your disposition. Do not you see how much you may do if you have a mind to it, where the plea of incapacity is out of place? And yet you do not push forward as you should do. What then! Does any natural defect force you to grumble, to lay your faults upon your constitution, to be stingy or a flatterer, to seek after popularity, boast, and be disturbed in mind? Can you say you are so weakly made as to be driven to these practices? The immortal gods know the contrary. No, you might have stood clear of all this long since; and after all, if your parts were somewhat slow, and your understanding heavy, your way had been to have taken the more pains with yourself, and not to have lain fallow and remained content with your own dullness.
6. Some men, when they do you a kindness, at once demand the payment of gratitude from you; others are more modest than this. However, they remember the favour, and look upon you in a manner as their debtor. A third sort shall scarce know what they have done. These are much like a vine, which is satisfied by being fruitful in its kind, and bears a bunch of grapes without expecting any thanks for it. A fleet horse or greyhound does not make a noise when they have done well, nor a bee neither when she has made a little honey. And thus a man that has done a kindness never proclaims it, but does another as soon as he can, just like a vine that bears again the next season. Now we should imitate those who are so obliging, as hardly to reflect on their beneficence. But you will say, a man ought not to act without reflection. It is surely natural for one that is generous to be conscious of his generosity; yes, truly, and to desire the person obliged should be sensible of it too. What you say is in a great measure true. But if you mistake my meaning, you will become one of those untoward benefactors I first mentioned; indeed, they too are misled by the plausibility of their reasoning. But if you will view the matter in its true colours, never fear that you will neglect any social act.
7. A prayer of the Athenians, "Send down, oh! send down rain, dear Zeus, on the ploughed fields and plains of the Athenians." Of a truth, we should not pray at all, or else in this simple and noble fashion.
8. Æsculapius, as we commonly say, has prescribed such an one riding out, walking in his slippers, or a cold bath. Now, with much the same meaning we may affirm that the nature of the universe has ordered this or that person a disease, loss of limbs or estate, or some such other calamity. For as in the first case, the word "prescribed" signifies a direction for the health of the patient, so in the latter it means an application fit for his constitution and fate. And thus these harsher events may be counted fit for us, as stone properly joined together in a wall or pyramid is said by the workmen to fit in. Indeed, the whole of nature consists of harmony. For as the world has its form and entireness from that universal matter of which it consists, so the character of fate results from the quality and concurrence of all other causes contained in it. The common people understand this notion very well. Their way of speaking is: "This happened to this man, therefore it was sent him and appointed for him." Let us then comply with our doom, as we do with the prescriptions of Æsculapius. These doses are often unpalatable and rugged, and yet the desire of health makes them go merrily down. Now that which nature esteems profit and convenience, should seem to you like your own health. And, therefore, when anything adverse happens, take it quietly to you; it is for the health of the universe, and the prosperity of Zeus himself. Depend upon it, this had never been sent you, if the universe had not found its advantage in it. Neither does nature act at random, or order anything which is not suitable to those beings under her government. You have two reasons, therefore, to be contented with your condition. First, because it has befallen you, and was appointed you from the beginning by the highest and most ancient causes. Secondly, The lot even of individuals is in a manner destined for the interest of him that governs the world. It perfects his nature in some measure, and causes and continues his happiness; for it holds in causes, no less than in parts of a whole that if you lop off any part of the continuity and connection, you maim the whole. Now, if you are displeased with your circumstances, you dismember nature, and pull the world in pieces, as much as lies in your power.
9. Be not uneasy, discouraged, or out of humour, because practice falls short of precept in some particulars. If you happen to be beaten, come on again, and be glad if most of your acts are worthy of human nature. Love that to which you return, and do not go like a schoolboy to his master, with an ill will. No, you must apply to philosophy with inclination, as those who have sore eyes make use of a good receipt. And when you are thus disposed, you will easily acquiesce in reason, and make your abode with her. And here you are to remember that philosophy will put you upon nothing but what your nature wishes and calls for. But you are crossing the inclinations of your nature. Is not this the most agreeable? And does not pleasure often deceive us under this pretence? Now think a little, and tell me what is there more delightful than greatness of mind, and generosity, simplicity, equanimity, and piety? And once more, what can be more delightful than prudence? than to be furnished with that faculty of knowledge and understanding which keeps a man from making a false step, and helps him to good fortune in all his business?
10. Things are so much perplexed and in the dark that several great philosophers looked upon them as altogether unintelligible, and that there was no certain test for the discovery of truth. Even the Stoics agree that certainty is very hard to come at; that our assent is worth little, for where is infallibility to be found? However, our ignorance is not so great but that we may discover how transitory and insignificant all things are, and that they may fall into the worst hands. Farther, consider the temper of those you converse with, and you will find the best will hardly do; not to mention that a man has work enough to make himself tolerable to himself. And since we have nothing but darkness and dirt to grasp at, since time and matter, motion and mortals are in perpetual flux; for these reasons, I say, I cannot imagine what there is here worth the minding or being eager about. On the other hand, a man ought to keep up his spirits, for it will not be long before his discharge comes. In the meantime, he must not fret at the delay, but satisfy himself with these two considerations: the one is, that nothing will befall me but what is in accordance with the nature of the universe; the other, that I need do nothing contrary to my mind and divinity, since no one can force me to act thus, or force me to act against my own judgment. 11. What use do I put my soul to? It is a serviceable question this, and should frequently be put to oneself. How does my ruling part stand affected? And whose soul have I now? That of a child, or a young man, or a feeble woman, or of a tyrant, of cattle or wild beasts.
12. What sort of good things those are, which are commonly so reckoned, you may learn from hence. For the purpose, if you reflect upon those qualities which are intrinsically valuable, such as prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude, you will not find it possible afterwards to give ear to those, for this is not suitable to a good man. But if you have once conceived as good what appears so to the many, you will hear and gladly accept as suitable the saying of the comic writer. Thus we see the generality are struck with the distinction, otherwise they would not dislike the liberty in one case, and allow it in the other, holding it a suitable and witty jest when it is directed against wealth, and the means that further luxury and ambition. Now, what significancy and excellence can there be in these things, to which may be applied the poet's jest, that excess of luxury leaves no room for comfort?
13. My being consists of matter and form, that is, of soul and body; annihilation will reach neither of them, for they were never produced out of nothing. The consequence is, that every part of me will serve to make something in the world; and this again will change into another part through an infinite succession of change. This constant method of alteration gave me my being, and my father before me, and so on to eternity backward: for I think I may speak thus, even though the world be confined within certain determinate periods.
14. Reason and the reasoning faculty need no foreign assistance, but are sufficient for their own purposes. They move within themselves, and make directly for the point in view. Wherefore, acts in accordance with them are called right acts, for they lead along the right road.
15. Those things do not belong to a man which do not belong to him as a man. For they are not included in the idea; they are not required of us as men; human nature does not promise them, neither is it perfected by them. From whence it follows that they can neither constitute the chief end of man, nor strictly contribute towards it. Farther, if these things were any real additions, how comes the contempt of them, and the being easy without them, to be so great a commendation? To balk an advantage would be folly if these things were truly good. But the case stands otherwise; for we know that self-denial and indifference about these things, and patience when they are taken away, is the character of a good man.
16. Your manners will depend very much upon the quality of what you frequently think on; for the soul is as it were tinged with the colour and complexion of thought. Be sure therefore to work in such maxims as these. Wherever a man lives, he may live well; by consequence, a life of virtue and that of a courtier are not inconsistent. Again, that which a thing is made for, is that towards which it is carried, and in that which it is naturally carried to, lies the end of the act. Now where the end of a thing is, there the advantage and improvement of it is certainly lodged. Now the happiness of mankind lies in society, since that we were made for this purpose, I have proved already. For is it not plain that the lower order of beings are made for the higher, and the higher for the service of each other? Now as those with souls are superior to the soulless, so amongst all creatures with souls the rational are the best.
17. To expect an impossibility is madness. Now it is impossible for ill men not to do ill.
18. There is nothing happens to any person but what was in his power to go through with. Some people have had very severe trials, and yet either by having less understanding, or more pride than ordinary, have charged bravely through the misfortune, and come off without a scratch. Now it is a disgrace to let ignorance and vanity do more with us than prudence and principle.
19. Outward objects cannot take hold of the soul, nor force their passage into her, nor set any of her wheels going. No, the impression comes from herself, and it is her own motions which affect her. As for the contingencies of fortune, they are either great or little, according to the opinion she has of her own strength.
20. When we consider we are bound to be serviceable to mankind, and bear with their faults, we shall perceive there is a common tie of nature and relation between us. But when we see people grow troublesome and disturb us in our business, here we are to look upon men as indifferent sort of things, no less than sun or wind, or a wild beast. It is true they may hinder me in the executing part, but all this is of no moment while my inclinations and good intent stand firm, for these can act according to the condition and change. For the mind converts and changes every hindrance into help. And thus it is probable I may gain by the opposition, and let the obstacle help me on my road.
21. Among all things in the universe, direct your worship to the greatest. And which is that? It is that being which manages and governs all the rest. And as you worship the best thing in nature, so you are to pay a proportionate regard to the best thing in yourself, and this is akin to the Deity. The quality of its functions will discover it. It is the reigning power within you, which disposes of your actions and your fortune.
22. That which does not hurt the city or body politic cannot hurt the citizen. Therefore when you think you are ill-used, let this reflection be your remedy: If the community is not the worse for it, neither am I. But if the community is injured, your business is to show the person concerned his fault, but not to grow passionate about it.
23. Reflect frequently upon the instability of things, and how very fast the scenes of nature are shifted. Matter is in a perpetual flux. Change is always and everywhere at work; it strikes through causes and effects, and leaves nothing fixed and permanent. And then how very near us stand the two vast gulfs of time, the past and the future, in which all things disappear. Now is not that man a blockhead that lets these momentary things make him proud, or uneasy, or sorrowful, as though they could trouble him for long?
24. Remember what an atom your person is in respect of the universe, what a minute of immeasurable time falls to your share, and what a small concern you are in the empire of fate!
25. A man misbehaves himself towards me; what is that to me? The action is his, and the disposition that led him to it is his, and therefore let him look to it. As for me, I am in the condition the universal nature assigns me, and am doing what my own nature assigns me.
26. Whether the motions of your body are rugged or agreeable, do not let your ruling and governing principle be concerned with them; confine the impressions to their respective quarters, and let your mind keep her distance, and not mingle with them. It is true, that which results from the laws of the union through the force of sympathy or constitution, must be felt, for nature will have its course. But though the sensation cannot be stopped, it must not be overrated, nor strained to the quality of good or evil.
27. We ought to live with the gods. This is done by him who always exhibits a soul contented with the appointments of Providence, and obeys the orders of that divinity which is his deputy and ruler, and the offspring of God. Now this divine authority is neither more nor less than that soul and reason which every man possesses.
28. Are you angry at a rank smell or an ill-scented breath? What good will this anger do you? But you will say, the man has reason, and can, if he takes pains, discover wherein he offends. I wish you joy of your discovery. Well, if you think mankind so full of reason, pray make use of your own. Argue the case with the faulty person, and show him his error. If your advice prevails, he is what you would have him; and then there is no need of being angry.
29. You may live now if you please, as you would choose to do if you were near dying. But suppose people will not let you, why then, give life the slip, but by no means make a misfortune of it. If the room smokes I leave it, and there is an end, for why should one be concerned at the matter? However, as long as nothing of this kind drives me out, I stay, behave as a free man, and do what I have a mind to; but then I have a mind to nothing but what I am led to by reason and public interest.
30. The soul of the universe is of a social disposition. For this reason it has made the lower part of the creation for the sake of the higher. And as for those beings of the higher rank, it has bound them to each other. You see how admirably things are ranged and subordinated according to the dignity of their kind, and cemented together in mutual harmony.
31. Recollect how you have behaved yourself all along towards the gods, your parents, brothers, wife, and children; towards your instructors, governors, friends, acquaintance, and servants. Whether men can say of you, "He never wronged a man in word or deed." Recollect how much business you have been engaged in, and what you have had strength to endure; that now your task is done, and the history of your life finished. Remember likewise, how many fair sights you have seen, how much of pleasure and pain you have despised, how much glory disregarded, and how often you have done good against evil.
32. Why should skill and knowledge be disturbed at the censures of ignorance? But who are these knowing and skilful people? Why, those who are acquainted with the original cause and end of all things, with that reason that pervades the mass of matter, renews the world at certain periods, and governs it through all the lengths of time.
33. You will quickly be reduced to ashes and skeleton. And it may be you will have a name left you, and it may be not. And what is a name? Nothing but sound and echo. And then for those things which are so much valued in the world, they are miserably empty and rotten, and insignificant. It is like puppies snarling for a bone; and the contests of little children sometimes transported, and then again all in tears about a plaything. And as for modesty and good faith, truth and justice, they have fled "up to Olympus from the wide-spread earth." And now, what is it that can keep you here? For if the objects of sense are floating and changeable, and the organs misty, and apt to be imposed on; if the soul is but a vapour drawn off the blood, and the applause of little mortals insignificant; if the case stands thus, why not have patience till you are either extinguished or removed? And till that time comes, what is to be done? The answer is easy: to worship the gods, and speak honourably of them; to be beneficial to mankind; to bear with them or avoid them; and lastly, to remember that whatever lies without the compass of your own flesh and breath is nothing of yours, nor in your power.
34. You may be always successful if you do but set out well, and let your thoughts and practice proceed upon right method. There are two properties and privileges common to the soul of God and man and all rational beings. The one is, not to be hindered by anything external; the other, to make virtuous intention and action their supreme satisfaction, and not so much as to desire anything farther.
35. If this accident is no fault of mine, nor a consequence of it; and besides, if the community is never the worse for it, why am I concerned? Now, how is the community injured?
36. Do not suffer a sudden impression to overbear your judgment. Let those that want your assistance have it, as far as the case requires. But if they are injured in matters indifferent, do not consider it any real damage, for that 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, so do in this case also. When you are haranguing in the rostra, a little of this to yourself would not be amiss:—Hark you, friend, have you forgotten what this glitter of honour really is? I grant it is but tinsel, but for all that it is extremely valued. And because other people are fools, must you be so too ? I can at once become happy anywhere, for he is happy who has found for himself a happy lot. In a word, happiness lies all in the functions of reason, in warrantable desires and virtuous practice.
