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Page 37
V.
In the 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 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 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 vain-glorious 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 labor?
2. How easy it is to repel and to wipe away every impression which is
troublesome or unsuitable, and immediately to be in all tranquillity.
3. Judge every word and deed which are according to nature to be fit for
thee; and be not diverted by the blame which follows from any people,
nor by their words, but if a thing is good to be done or said, do not
consider it unworthy of thee. For those persons have their peculiar
leading principle and follow their peculiar movement; which things do
not thou regard, but go straight on, following thy own nature and the
common nature; and the way of both is one.
4. I go through the things which happen according to nature until I
shall fall and rest, breathing out my breath into that element out of
which I daily draw it in, and falling upon that earth out of which my
father collected the seed, and my mother the blood, and my nurse the
milk; out of which during so many years I have been supplied with food
and drink; which bears me when I tread on it and abuse it for so many
purposes.
5. Thou sayest, Men cannot admire the sharpness of thy wits.--Be it so:
but there are many other things of which thou canst not say, I am not
formed from them by nature. Show those qualities then which are
altogether in thy power, sincerity, gravity, endurance of labor,
aversion to pleasure, contentment with thy portion and with few things,
benevolence, frankness, no love of superfluity, freedom from trifling,
magnanimity. Dost thou not see how many qualities thou art immediately
able to exhibit, in which there is no excuse of natural incapacity and
unfitness, and yet thou still remainest voluntarily below the mark? or
art thou compelled through being defectively furnished by nature to
murmur, and to be stingy, and to flatter, and to find fault with thy
poor body, and to try to please men, and to make great display, and to
be so restless in thy mind? No, by the gods; but thou mightest have been
delivered from these things long ago. Only if in truth thou canst be
charged with being rather slow and dull of comprehension, thou must
exert thyself about this also, not neglecting it nor yet taking pleasure
in thy dullness.
6. One man, when he has done a service to another, is ready to set it
down to his account as a favor conferred. Another is not ready to do
this, but still in his own mind he thinks of the man as his debtor, and
he knows what he has done. A third in a manner does not even know what
he has done, but he is like a vine which has produced grapes, and seeks
for nothing more after it has once produced its proper fruit. As a horse
when he has run, a dog when he has tackled the game, a bee when it has
made the honey, so a man when he has done a good act does not call out
for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine
goes on to produce again the grapes in season.--Must a man then be one
of these, who in a manner act thus without observing it?--Yes.--But this
very thing is necessary, the observation of what a man is doing: for, it
may be said, it is characteristic of the social animal to perceive that
he is working in a social manner, and indeed to wish that his social
partner also should perceive it.--It is true that thou sayest, but thou
dost not rightly understand what is now said: and for this reason thou
wilt become one of those of whom I spoke before, for even they are
misled by a certain show of reason. But if thou wilt choose to
understand the meaning of what is said, do not fear that for this reason
thou wilt omit any social act.
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