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Page 56
Short lived are both the praiser and the praised, and the rememberer and
the remembered: and all this in a nook of this part of the world; and
not even here do all agree, no, not any one with himself: and the whole
earth too is a point.
22. Attend to the matter which is before thee, whether it is an opinion
or an act or a word.
Thou sufferest this justly: for thou choosest rather to become good
to-morrow than to be good to-day.
23. Am I doing anything? I do it with reference to the good of mankind.
Does anything happen to me? I receive it and refer it to the gods, and
the source of all things, from which all that happens is derived.
24. Such as bathing appears to thee,--oil, sweat, dirt, filthy water,
all things disgusting,--so is every part of life and everything.
25. Lucilla saw Verus die, and then Lucilla died. Secunda saw Maximus
die, and then Secunda died. Epitynchanus saw Diotimus die, and then
Epitynchanus died. Antoninus saw Faustina die, and then Antoninus died.
Such is everything. Celer saw Hadrianus die, and then Celer died. And
those sharp-witted men, either seers or men inflated with pride, where
are they,--for instance the sharp-witted men, Charax and Demetrius the
Platonist, and Eudaemon, and any one else like them? All ephemeral,
dead long ago. Some indeed have not been remembered even for a short
time, and others have become the heroes of fables, and again others have
disappeared even from fables. Remember this then, that this little
compound, thyself, must either be dissolved, or thy poor breath must be
extinguished, or be removed and placed elsewhere.
26. It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper works of a man. Now it
is a proper work of a man to be benevolent to his own kind, to despise
the movements of the senses, to form a just judgment of plausible
appearances, and to take a survey of the nature of the universe and of
the things which happen in it.
27. There are three relations [between thee and other things]: the one
to the body[A] which surrounds thee; the second to the divine cause from
which all things come to all; and the third to those who live with thee.
[A] The text has [Greek: aition], which in Antoninus means
"form," "formal." Accordingly Schultz recommends either
Valkenaer's emendation [Greek: angeion], "body," or Cora�s'
[Greek: s�mation]. Compare xii. 13; x. 38.
28. Pain is either an evil to the body--then let the body say what it
thinks of it--or to the soul; but it is in the power of the soul to
maintain its own serenity and tranquillity, and not to think that pain
is an evil. For every judgment and movement and desire and aversion is
within, and no evil ascends so high.
29. Wipe out thy imaginations by often saying to thyself: Now it is in
my power to let no badness be in this soul, nor desire, nor any
perturbation at all; but looking at all things I see what is their
nature, and I use each according to its value.--Remember this power
which thou hast from nature.
30. Speak both in the senate and to every man, whoever he may be,
appropriately, not with any affectation: use plain discourse.
31. Augustus' court, wife, daughter, descendants, ancestors, sister,
Agrippa, kinsmen, intimates, friends; Areius,[A] Maecenas, physicians,
and sacrificing priests,--the whole court is dead. Then turn to the
rest, not considering the death of a single man [but of a whole race],
as of the Pompeii; and that which is inscribed on the tombs,--The last
of his race. Then consider what trouble those before them have had that
they might leave a successor; and then, that of necessity some one must
be the last. Again, here consider the death of a whole race.
[A] Areius ([Greek: Areios]) was a philosopher, who was
intimate with Augustus; Sueton. Augustus, c. 89; Plutarch,
Antoninus, 80; Dion Cassius, 51, c. 16.
32. It is thy duty to order thy life well in every single act; and if
every act does its duty as far as is possible, be content; and no one is
able to hinder thee so that each act shall not do its duty.--But
something external will stand in the way. Nothing will stand in the way
of thy acting justly and soberly and considerately.--But perhaps some
other active power will be hindered. Well, but by acquiescing in the
hindrance and by being content to transfer thy efforts to that which is
allowed, another opportunity of action is immediately put before thee in
place of that which was hindered, and one which will adapt itself to
this ordering of which we are speaking.
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