|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 63
[A] The words which immediately follow [Greek: kat'
epakolouth�sin] are corrupt. But the meaning is hardly
doubtful. (Compare vii. 75.)
Soon will the earth cover us all: then the earth, too, will change, and
the things also which result from change will continue to change
forever, and these again forever. For if a man reflects on the changes
and transformations which follow one another like wave after wave and
their rapidity, he will despise everything which is perishable (xii.
21).
29. The universal cause is like a winter torrent: it carries everything
along with it. But how worthless are all these poor people who are
engaged in matters political, and, as they suppose, are playing the
philosopher! All drivellers. Well then, man: do what nature now
requires. Set thyself in motion, if it is in thy power, and do not look
about thee to see if any one will observe it; nor yet expect Plato's
Republic:[A] but be content if the smallest thing goes on well, and
consider such an event to be no small matter. For who can change men's
opinions? and without a change of opinions what else is there than the
slavery of men who groan while they pretend to obey? Come now and tell
me of Alexander and Philippus and Demetrius of Phalerum. They themselves
shall judge whether they discovered what the common nature required, and
trained themselves accordingly. But if they acted like tragedy heroes,
no one has condemned me to imitate them. Simple and modest is the work
of philosophy. Draw me not aside to insolence and pride.
[A] Those who wish to know what Plato's Republic is may now
study it in the accurate translation of Davies and Vaughan.
30. Look down from above on the countless herds of men and their
countless solemnities, and the infinitely varied voyagings in storms and
calms, and the differences among those who are born, who live together,
and die. And consider, too, the life lived by others in olden time, and
the life of those who will live after thee, and the life now lived among
barbarous nations, and how many know not even thy name, and how many
will soon forget it, and how they who perhaps now are praising thee will
very soon blame thee, and that neither a posthumous name is of any
value, nor reputation, nor anything else.
31. Let there be freedom from perturbations with respect to the things
which come from the external cause; and let there be justice in the
things done by virtue of the internal cause, that is, let there be
movement and action terminating in this, in social acts, for this is
according to thy nature.
32. Thou canst remove out of the way many useless things among those
which disturb thee, for they lie entirely in thy opinion; and thou wilt
then gain for thyself ample space by comprehending the whole universe in
thy mind, and by contemplating the eternity of time, and observing the
rapid change of every several thing, how short is the time from birth to
dissolution, and the illimitable time before birth as well as the
equally boundless time after dissolution!
33. All that thou seest will quickly perish, and those who have been
spectators of its dissolution will very soon perish too. And he who dies
at the extremest old age will be brought into the same condition with
him who died prematurely.
34. What are these men's leading principles, and about what kind of
things are they busy, and for what kind of reasons do they love and
honor? Imagine that thou seest their pool souls laid bare. When they
think that they do harm by their blame or good by their praise, what an
idea!
35. Loss is nothing else than change. But the universal nature delights
in change, and in obedience to her all things are now done well, and
from eternity have been in like form, and will be such to time without
end. What, then, dost thou say,--that all things have been and all
things always will be bad, and that no power has ever been found in so
many gods to rectify these things, but the world has been condemned to
be bound in never ceasing evil (iv. 45, vii. 18)?
36. The rottenness of the matter which is the foundation of everything!
water, dust, bones, filth: or again, marble rocks, the callosities of
the earth; and gold and silver, the sediments; and garments, only bits
of hair; and purple dye, blood; and everything else is of the same kind.
And that which is of the nature of breath is also another thing of the
same kind, changing from this to that.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|