Book VIII

1. To keep you modest and free from vain glory, remember that it is no longer in your power to spend your life wholly, from youth upwards, in the pursuit of wisdom. Your friends and yourself, too, are sufficiently acquainted how much you fall short of philosophy; you have been liable to disturbance, so that the bare report of being a philosopher is no longer an easy matter for you to compass; you are unqualified by your station. However, since you know how to come at the thing, never be concerned about missing the credit. Be satisfied, therefore, and for the rest of your life let your own rational nature direct you. Mind, then, what she desires, and let nothing foreign disturb you. You are very sensible how much you have rambled after happiness, and failed. Neither learning, nor wealth, nor fame, nor pleasure could ever help you to it. Which way is it to be had then? By acting up to the height of human nature. And how shall a man do this? Why, by getting a right set of principles for impulses and actions. And what principles are those? Such as state and distinguish good and evil. Such as give us to understand that there is nothing properly good for a man but what promotes the virtues of justice, temperance, fortitude, and independence, nor anything bad for him, but that which carries him off to the contrary vices.

2. At every action ask yourself this question, What will the consequence of this be to me? Am I not likely to repent of it? I shall be dead in a little time, and then all is over with me. If the present undertaking is but suitable to an intelligent and sociable being, and one that has the honour to live by the same rule and reason with God himself; if the case stands thus, all is well, and to what purpose should you look any farther?

3. Alexander, Julius Cæsar, and Pompey, what were they in comparison of Diogenes, Heraclitus, and Socrates? These philosophers looked through things and their causes, and their ruling principles were in accordance. But as for those great princes, what a load of cares were they pestered with, and to how many things were they slaves!

4. People will play the same pranks over and over again, though you should burst.

5. In the first place, keep yourself easy, for all things are governed by the universal nature. Besides, you will quickly go the way of all flesh, as Augustus and Hadrian have done before you. Farther, examine the matter to the bottom, and remember that your business is to be a good man. Therefore, whatever the dignity of human nature requires of you, set about it at once, without "ifs" or "ands"; and speak always according to your conscience, but let it be done in the terms of good nature and modesty and sincerity.

6. It is the work of Providence to change the face of things, and remove them from one place to another. All conditions are subject to revolution, so that you need not be afraid of anything new, for all things are usual, and equally distributed.

7. Every being is at ease when its powers move regularly and without interruption. Now a rational being is in this prosperous condition when its judgment is gained by nothing but truth and evidence, when its designs are all meant for the advantage of society, when its desires and aversions are confined to objects within its power, when it rests satisfied with the distributions of the universal nature of which it is a part, just as much as a leaf belongs to the nature of the tree that bears it. Only with this difference, that a leaf is part of a nature without sense or reason, and liable to be checked in its operations, whereas a man is a limb as it were of an intelligent, righteous, and irresistible being, that is all wisdom, and assigns matter and form, time, force, and fortune, to everything in one measure and proportion. And this you will easily perceive if you do not compare one thing with another in every detail, but compare the whole of one thing with the whole of another.

8. You have no leisure to read books, what then? You have leisure to check your insolence. It is in your power to be superior to pleasure and pain, to be deaf to the charms of ambition. It is in your power not only to forbear being angry with people for their folly and ingratitude, but over and above, to cherish their interest, and take care of them.

9. Never again let any man hear you censure a court life, nor seem dissatisfied with your own.

10. Repentance is a reproof of a man's conscience for the neglect of some advantages. Now, whatever is morally good is profitable, and ought to be the concern of a man of probity. But no good man would ever be inwardly troubled for the omission of any pleasure, whence it follows that pleasure is neither profitable nor good.

11. What is this thing considered in itself? Of what sort of substance, of what material and causal parts does it consist? What share of action has it in the world? and how long is it likely to stay there?

12. When you find yourself sleepy in a morning, remember that business and doing service to the world is to act up to nature and live like a man. Whereas sleep you have in common with the beasts. Now those actions which fall in with a man's nature are more suitable and serviceable, yes, and more pleasant than others.

13. Upon every new impression let it be your constant custom to examine the object in the light of physics, ethics, and dialectics.

14. When you are about to converse with any person, make this short speech to yourself: What notions has this man about good and evil? Then if he has such opinions concerning pleasure and pain, and the causes of them, reputation or ignominy, life or death; if the case stands thus with him, I shall not wonder at his practice, and I shall remember that it is next to impossible he should do otherwise.

15. Would it not be an odd instance of surprise to stare at a fig-tree for bearing figs? Why then should it seem strange to us for the world to act like itself, and produce things pursuant to quality and kind? This is just as foolish as it would be for a physician to wonder at a fever, or a master of a vessel at a cross blast of wind.

16. To retract or mend a fault at the admonition of a friend in no way hurts your liberty, for it is still your own activity which by means of your own impulse and judgment, and by your own mind, makes you see your mistake.

17. Why do you do this, if it is in your power to let it alone? But if you cannot help it, whom do you blame? The atoms or the gods? Either is folly, and therefore we must murmur against nothing. If you can mend the cause, set about it. If not, mend the thing itself. If you cannot do even that, what are you the better for grumbling? Now a man should never do anything to no purpose.

18. Whatever drops out of life is somewhere, for the world loses nothing. If it stays here, it also changes here, and is dissolved into its proper parts, which are elements of the universe and of yourself. And these two change and do not complain.

19. Everything is made for some end. The sun even will say, I have my business assigned, and so too the celestial deities. But pray, what were you made for? For your pleasure? Common sense will not bear such an answer.

20. Nature pre-ords the end of everything, no less than its beginning and continuance, as does he that strikes a ball, and what is the ball the better all this while for mounting, or the worse for flying lower, and coming to the ground? What does a bubble get in the swelling or lose in the breaking? The same may be said of a candle.

21. Turn your body the wrong side outwards, and see it as it is, and consider what age and disease will make of you, and consider that both the orator and the hero, the praiser and the praised, will quickly be out of sight, and that we live but in a corner of this little dimension, that men differ in their notions of honour and esteem, and that even the same person is not of the same opinion long together, and, moreover, that the earth is but a point.

22. Mind that which lies before you, whether it be thought, word, or action. You are well enough served for choosing rather to become good to-morrow than be good to-day.

23. Am I about anything? I will do it with regard to the interest of mankind. Does anything happen to me? I receive it, referring it to the gods, and the fountain of all things whence springs all that happens.

24. Think a little, and tell me what you meet with in the business of bathing? There is oil and sweat, and dirtiness and water, but an offensive mixture, take it altogether. Why, life and everything in it is made up of such indifferent stuff.

25. Lucilla buried Verus, and followed him soon after. Secunda did the same office for Maximus, and survived but a little while. And thus it fared with Epitychanus and Diotimus, with Antoninus and Faustina, with Celer and the Emperor Hadrianus; they assisted at one funeral, and quickly made another themselves. Where are those men of wit, force, and knowledge, and the others puffed up with pride? They made a great noise and figure formerly, but what is become of them now? Where are those sharp-witted philosophers, Charax, Eudæmon, Demetrius the Platonist, and others of their learning? Alas! they took but a turn in the world, and are gone long since. Some of them have sunk at once, and left no memory behind them. The history of others is overcast, and dwindled into fables, and a third sort have dropped even out of fables. Your business is therefore to remember, that after death this compound of yours will fall to pieces; or else your soul will either be extinguished or removed into another station.

26. Satisfaction consists in doing the things we were made for. And how is this to be compassed? By the practice of general kindness, by neglecting the movements of our senses, by distinguishing appearance from truth, and by contemplating the nature of the universe and its works.

27. Every man has three relations to acquit himself: his body that encompasses him makes one, the Divine cause that gives to all men all things another, and his neighbours a third.

28. If pain is an affliction, it must affect either the body or the mind; if the body is hurt, let it say so; as for the soul, it is in her power to preserve her serenity and calm by supposing the accident no evil; for judgment and impulse, aversion and desire, are lodged within, and there no mischief can come at them.

29. Rub out the impressions of fancy on the mind by continually saying to yourself, It is in my power to make my soul free from desire or disturbance. I am likewise able to distinguish the quality of things, and make use of them accordingly. These are all privileges of nature, and ought to be remembered as such.

30. When you speak in the senate or elsewhere, speak suitably and without affectation, and let your discourse be always clear.

31. Augustus' court is buried long since; his empress and daughter, his grand-children and ancestors, his sister and Agrippa, his relations and domestics, physicians and sacrificers, his favourites, such as Arius the philosopher, and Maecenas, they are all gone. Go on from single persons to families, that of the Pompeys, for instance, and you will find the whole line extinct. "This man was the last of his house," is not uncommon upon a monument. How solicitous were the ancestors of such people about an heir; and yet some one must of necessity be the last. Here, too, consider the death of a whole race.

32. Guide your life towards a single course of action. and if every action goes its due length, as far as may be, rest contented. Now, no mortal can hinder you from putting your affairs in this condition. But may not some obstacle from without interpose? No; not so far as to prevent your acting like a man of probity, moderation, and prudence. But perhaps my activity may be checked in some other way. It is no matter for that. As long as you are easy under the obstruction, and pass on smoothly to whatever offers, you have at once another opportunity for action, in accordance with this aforesaid government.

33. As to the case of good fortune, take it without pride, and resign it without reluctance.

34. If you have observed a hand or a foot cut off, and removed from the body, just such a thing is that man, as far as lies in his power, who is discontented with fate, and breaks off from the interest of mankind, or who by a selfish act has cut himself off from the union of nature, for by nature he is a part of the whole. But here lies the good luck of the case. It is in your power to set the limb on again. This favour is allowed by God to no other part of the creation that what is separated and cut off should be joined on again. Consider, then, the particular bounty of God to man in this privilege. He has set him above the necessity of breaking off from nature and Providence at all; but supposing he has broken away, it is in his power to rejoin the body, and grow together again, and recover the advantage of being the same member he was at first.

35. Whence come all the powers and prerogatives of rational beings? From the soul of the universe. Amongst other faculties, they have this which I am going to mention. For as the universal nature overrules all mutinous accidents, brings them under the laws of fate, and makes them part of itself, so it is the power of man to make something out of every hindrance, and turn it to his own advantage.

36. Do not take your whole life into your head at a time, nor burden yourself with the weight of the future, nor form an image of all probable misfortunes. This method will but confound you. On the contrary, your way is upon every emergency to put this question to yourself, "What intolerable circumstance is there in all this?" For you will be ashamed to assign particulars, and confess yourself conquered. Besides, you are to remember, that neither what is past nor what is to come need afflict you, for you have only to deal with the present. Now, this is strangely lessened, if you take it singly and by itself. Chide your fancy, therefore, if it offers to shrink for a moment and grow faint under so slender a trial.

37. Do Panthea and Pergamus still wait at the tomb of Verus, or Chabrias and Diotimus at that of Hadrian? That would be absurd indeed! And what if they were there, would those princes be sensible of the service? Granting they were, what satisfaction would it be to them? And suppose they were pleased, would these waiters be immortal? Are they not doomed to age and death with the rest of mankind? And when they are dead, what would the royal ghosts do for want of their attendance? Alas! all this ceremony must end at last in stench and dust.

38. If you are so quick at discerning, says one, discern and judge wisely.

39. I find no mortal virtue which contradicts and combats justice; this cannot be affirmed of pleasure, for here temperance comes in with a restraint.

40. It is opinion which gives being to misfortune, do not fancy yourself hurt, and nothing can touch you. But what is this "you?" It is your reason. But I am not all reason. Very well, but do not let reason grow uneasy. And if any other part of you is in trouble, let it keep its concerns to itself.

41. To be checked in the functions of sense, and motion, and desire is an evil to the animal life; that which hinders the growth or flourishing of a vegetable may be said to be an evil there, so likewise to be cramped in the faculties of the mind is an evil to an intelligent nature. Apply all this to yourself. Does pleasure or pain attack you? Turn them over to your senses, and let them answer for it. Does anything cross your undertaking? Why, if you are positive and peremptory about it, the disappointment is really an evil to your rational nature. But if you consider the usual course of things, then no manner of mortal can put a restraint upon the soul; and neither fire nor sword, slander, tongue, nor tyrant can touch her; just as a sphere when it has once come into being remains a sphere.

42. Why should I vex myself that never willingly vexed anybody?

43. Every man has his particular inclination, but my pleasure lies in a sound understanding, a temper that never falls out either with men or accidents, that sees and takes all things with good humour, and puts them to the uses they are fit for.

44. Make the best of your time while you have it. Those who are so solicitous about fame never consider that future generations will be much the same as the present whom they are vexed with, and they, too, are mortal, what then can the noise or opinions of such little mortals signify to you?

45. Toss me into what climate or state you please, for all that, I will keep my divine part content, if it can but exist, and act in accordance with its nature. What! is this misadventure big enough to ruffle my mind and make it deteriorate? To make it mean, craving, and servile, and frightened; what is there that can justify such disorders?

46. No accident can happen to any man but what is consequent to his nature. And the same thing may be affirmed of a beast, a vine, or a stone. Now if things fare no otherwise than according to kind and constitution, why should you complain? You may be assured the universal nature has never laid upon you an intolerable evil.

47. If anything external vexes you, take notice that it is not the thing which disturbs you, but your notion about it, which notion you may dismiss at once if you please. But if the condition of your mind displease you, who should hinder you from rectifying your opinion? Farther, if you are disturbed because you are not active in the discharge of your duty, your way is rather to do something than to grieve at your own omission. But you are under some insuperable difficulty; then never vex yourself about the matter, for you have nothing to answer for. It may be you will say: It is not worth my while to live unless this business can be effected. Why then, even die; but take your leave contentedly, go off as smoothly as if you were in full activity, and be not angry with those that disappointed you.

48. The mind is invincible when she turns to herself, and relies upon her own courage; in this case there is no forcing her will, though she has nothing but obstinacy for her defence. What then must her strength be when she is fortified with reason, and engages upon thought and deliberation? A soul unembarrassed with passion is a very citadel, the most impregnable security for man in future; hither we may retire and defy our enemies. He that has not seen this advantage must be ignorant, and he that neglects to use it unhappy.

49. Do not make more of things than your senses report. For instance, you are told that such an one has spoken ill of you. Right; but that you are really the worse for it is no part of the news. Again, I see my child lie sick. True; but that he is in danger is more than I see. Thus always stop at the first representation, and add nothing yourself from within, and you are safe. Or rather, reason upon it like a man that has looked through the world, and is no stranger to anything that can happen.

50. Does your cucumber taste bitter? Let it alone. Are there brambles in your way? Avoid them then. Thus far you are well. But, then, do not ask what does the world with such things as this, for a natural philosopher would laugh at you. This expostulation is just as wise as it would be to find fault with a carpenter for having saw-dust, or a tailor shreds in his shop. Yet they have places where to bestow these. But universal nature has no place for refuse out of herself, but the wondrous part of her art is that though she is circumscribed, yet everything within her that seems to grow old and moulder and be good for nothing, she melts down into herself and recoins in another figure, and thus she neither wants any foreign substance or by-place to throw the dross in, but is always abundantly furnished with room, and matter, and art within herself.

51. Be not heavy in business, nor disturbed in conversation, nor rambling in your thoughts. Keep your mind from running adrift, from sudden surprise and transports, and do not overset yourself with too much employment. Do men curse you? Do they threaten to kill and quarter you? How can this prevent you from keeping your mind pure, wise, temperate, and just? It is much as if a man that stands by a pure and lovely spring should fall a-railing at it, the water never ceases bubbling up for all that; and if you should throw in dirt or clay, it would quickly disappear and disperse, and the fountain will not be polluted. Which way now are you to go to work, to keep your springs always running, that they may never stagnate into a pool? I will tell you: you must always preserve in yourself the virtues of freedom, of sincerity, sobriety, and good nature.

52. He that is unacquainted with the nature of the world, must be at a loss to know where he is. And he that cannot tell the ends he was made for, is ignorant both of himself and the world too. And he that is uninstructed in either of these two points, will never be able to know the design of his being. What do you think then of his discretion, that is anxious about what is said of him, and values either the praise or the censure of those folks that know neither where they are, nor who?

53. What! Are you so ambitious of a man's good word, that curses himself thrice every hour? Are you so fond of being in their favour, that cannot keep in their own? And how can they be said to please themselves, who repent of almost everything they do?

54. Let your soul work in harmony with the universal intelligence, as your breath does with the air. This correspondence is very practicable, for the intelligent power lies as open and pervious to your mind, as the air you breathe does to your lungs, if you can but draw it in.

55. Wickedness generally does no harm to the universe, so too in particular subjects, it does no harm to any one. It is only a plague to him in whose power it lies to be rid of it whenever he pleases.

56. My will is as much my own as my constitution; and no more concerned in the will of another man, than my breath and body is in another man's. For though we are born for the service of each other, yet our liberty is independent. Otherwise my neighbour's fault might be my misfortune. But God has prevented this consequence, lest it should be in another's power to make me unhappy.

57. The sun is diffused, and bestows itself everywhere, but this seeming expense never exhausts it. The reason is, because it is stretched like a thread, and thus its beams have their name from extension. As for the properties and philosophy of a ray, you may observe them, if you like to let it into a dark room through a narrow passage. Here you will see it move in a straight line, till it is broken, and, as it were, divided, by having its progress stopped by a solid body; and here the light makes a stand, without dropping or sliding off. Thus you should let your sense shine out and diffuse, extended but not exhausted; and when you meet with opposition, never strike violently against it, nor yet drop your talent in despair. But let your beams be fixed, and enlighten where they find a capacity. And as for that body that will not transmit the light, it will but darken itself by its resistance.

58. He that dreads death is either afraid that his senses will be extinguished or altered. Now, if you have no faculties, you will have no feeling. But if you have new perceptions, you will be another creature, and will not cease to live.

59. Men are born to be serviceable to one another, therefore either reform the world or bear with it.

60. Understanding does not always drive onward like an arrow. The mind sometimes by making a halt, and going round for advice, moves straight on none the less, and hits the mark.

61. Look nicely into the thoughts of every one, and give them the same freedom as your own.

Notes

3. Caius is Caius Julius Cæsar.
57. Marcus Aurelius is trying to derive the Greek word for rays ἀκτῖνες from the verb ἐκτείνεσθαι—to be extended. The explanation is obviously impossible. Such bad etymology was common at a time when no real science of words existed.