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Page 55
8. Thou hast not leisure [or ability] to read. But thou hast leisure [or
ability] to check arrogance: thou hast leisure to be superior to
pleasure and pain: thou hast leisure to be superior to love of fame, and
not to be vexed at stupid and ungrateful people, nay even to care for
them.
9. Let no man any longer hear thee finding fault with the court life or
with thy own (v. 16).
10. Repentance is a kind of self-reproof for having neglected something
useful; but that which is good must be something useful, and the perfect
good man should look after it. But no such man would ever repent of
having refused any sensual pleasure. Pleasure then is neither good nor
useful.
11. This thing, what is it in itself, in its own constitution? What is
its substance and material? And what its causal nature [or form]? And
what is it doing in the world? And how long does it subsist?
12. When thou risest from sleep with reluctance, remember that it is
according to thy constitution and according to human nature to perform
social acts, but sleeping is common also to irrational animals. But that
which is according to each individual's nature is also more peculiarly
its own, and more suitable to its nature, and indeed also more agreeable
(v. 1).
13. Constantly, and, if it be possible, on the occasion of every
impression on the soul, apply to it the principles of Physic, of Ethic,
and of Dialectic.
14. Whatever man thou meetest with, immediately say to thyself: What
opinions has this man about good and bad? For if with respect to
pleasure and pain and the causes of each, and with respect to fame and
ignominy, death and life, he has such and such opinions, it will seem
nothing wonderful or strange to me if he does such and such things; and
I shall bear in mind that he is compelled to do so.[A]
[A] Antoninus v. 16. Thucydides, iii 10: [Greek: en gar t�
diallassonti t�s gn�m�s kai ai diaphorai t�n erg�n
kathistantai].
15. Remember that as it is a shame to be surprised if the fig-tree
produces figs, so it is to be surprised if the world produces such and
such things of which it is productive; and for the physician and the
helmsman it is a shame to be surprised if a man has a fever, or if the
wind is unfavorable.
16. Remember that to change thy opinion and to follow him who corrects
thy error is as consistent with freedom as it is to persist in thy
error. For it is thy own, the activity which is exerted according to thy
own movement and judgment, and indeed according to thy own understanding
too.
17. If a thing is in thy own power, why dost thou do it? but if it is in
the power of another, whom dost thou blame,--the atoms [chance] or the
gods? Both are foolish. Thou must blame nobody. For if thou canst,
correct [that which is the cause]; but if thou canst not do this,
correct at least the thing itself; but if thou canst not do even this,
of what use is it to thee to find fault? for nothing should be done
without a purpose.
18. That which has died falls not out of the universe. If it stays here,
it also changes here, and is dissolved into its proper parts, which are
elements of the universe and of thyself. And these too change, and they
murmur not.
19. Everything exists for some end,--a horse, a vine. Why dost thou
wonder? Even the sun will say, I am for some purpose, and the rest of
the gods will say the same. For what purpose then art thou,--to enjoy
pleasure? See if common sense allows this.
20. Nature has had regard in everything no less to the end than to the
beginning and the continuance, just like the man who throws up a ball.
What good is it then for the ball to be thrown up, or harm for it to
come down, or even to have fallen? and what good is it to the bubble
while it holds together, or what harm when it is burst? The same may be
said of a light also.
21. Turn it [the body] inside out, and see what kind of thing it is; and
when it has grown old, what kind of thing it becomes, and when it is
diseased.
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