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Page 35
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, Leonnatus, and a little after also
Scipio and Cato, then Augustus, then also Hadrianus 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.
34. Willingly give thyself up to Clotho [one of the fates], allowing her
to spin thy thread + into whatever things she pleases.
35. Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that
which is remembered.
36. 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.
37. Thou wilt soon die, and thou art not yet simple, 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 principles, 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 contrary to nature.
40. 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 co-operating causes of
all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the
thread and the contexture of the web.
41. Thou art a little soul bearing about a corpse, as Epictetus used to
say (i. c. 19).
42. It is no evil for things to undergo change, 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 carried 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 delights 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
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 (vi. 38; vii.
9; vii. 75, note).
46. 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 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 + we ought
not, like children who learn from their parents, simply to act and speak
as we have been taught. +
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