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Page 68
14. To her who gives and takes back all, to nature, the man who is
instructed and modest says, Give what thou wilt; take back what thou
wilt. And he says this not proudly, but obediently, and well pleased
with her.
15. Short is the little which remains to thee of life. Live as on a
mountain. For it makes no difference whether a man lives there or here,
if he lives everywhere in the world as in a state [political community].
Let me see, let them know a real man who lives according to nature. If
they cannot endure him, let them kill him. For that is better than to
live thus [as men do].
16. No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to
be, but be such.
17. Constantly contemplate the whole of time and the whole of substance,
and consider that all individual things as to substance are a grain of a
fig, and as to time the turning of a gimlet.
18. Look at everything that exists, and observe that it is already in
dissolution and in change, and as it were putrefaction or dispersion, or
that everything is so constituted by nature as to die.
19. Consider what men are when they are eating, sleeping, generating,
easing themselves, and so forth. Then what kind of men they are when
they are imperious + and arrogant, or angry and scolding from their
elevated place. But a short time ago to how many they were slaves and
for what things; and after a little time consider in what a condition
they will be.
20. That is for the good of each thing, which the universal nature
brings to each. And it is for its good at the time when nature brings
it.
21. "The earth loves the shower;" and "the solemn ether loves;" and the
universe loves to make whatever is about to be. I say then to the
universe, that I love as thou lovest. And is not this too said that
"this or that loves [is wont] to be produced?"[A]
22. Either thou livest here and hast already accustomed thyself to it,
or thou art going away, and this was thy own will; or thou art dying and
hast discharged thy duty. But besides these things there is nothing. Be
of good cheer, then.
23. Let this always be plain to thee, that this piece of land is like
any other; and that all things here are the same with things on the top
of a mountain, or on the sea-shore, or wherever thou choosest to be. For
thou wilt find just what Plato says, Dwelling within the walls of a city
as in a shepherd's fold on a mountain. [The three last words are omitted
in the translation.][B]
[A] These words are from Euripides. They are cited by
Aristotle, Ethic. Nicom. viii. 1. Athenaeus (xiii. 296) and
Stobaeus quote seven complete lines beginning [Greek: era men
ombrou gaia]. There is a similar fragment of Aeschylus,
Danaides, also quoted by Athenaeus.
It was the fashion of the Stoics to work on the meanings of
words. So Antoninus here takes the verb [Greek: philei],
"loves," which has also the sense of "is wont," "uses," and the
like. He finds in the common language of mankind a
philosophical truth, and most great truths are expressed in the
common language of life; some understand them, but most people
utter them without knowing how much they mean.
[B] Plato, Theaet. 174 D.E. But compare the original with the
use that Antoninus has made of it.
24. What is my ruling faculty now to me? and of what nature am I now
making it? and for what purpose am I now using it? is it void of
understanding? is it loosed and rent asunder from social life? is it
melted into and mixed with the poor flesh so as to move together with
it?
25. He who flies from his master is a runaway; but the law is master,
and he who breaks the law is a runaway. And he also who is grieved or
angry or afraid, + is dissatisfied because something has been or is or
shall be of the things which are appointed by him who rules all things,
and he is Law and assigns to every man what is fit. He then who fears or
is grieved or is angry is a runaway.[A]
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