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kSIR JOHN LUBBOCK'S
HUNDRED BOOKS

MARCUS AURELIUSSic John Xubbocfe's l&un&reb Boofes

THE MEDITATIONS OF

MARCUS AURELIUS

Translated from the Greek
By JEREMY COLLIER

REVISED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES,

By ALICE ZIMMERN

Xonoon an& flew JUorft
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS

LIMITEDAlis.Ec

I	CONTENTS.

-T

£ '

X	PAGB

§ MARCUS AURELIUS.....vii

f BOOK I. . ... . . .7

BOOK II. . ......21

BOOK III.......33

BOOK IV. . . .	. . .45

^ BOOK V........65

BOOK VI. . . . . ... .83

o	BOOK VII.......103

G

<c	BOOK VIII.	. . . .	.121

J	BOOK IX. .	. . . . . . 141

^ BOOK X........1J9

%-

BOOK XI........179

f

^ BOOK XII.......19S

jj notes . • •	• • • 209

j	'

1050395MARCUS AURELIUS.

NTIL philosophers are kings, and the princes
of this world have the spirit and power
of philosophy, and political greatness and
wisdom meet in one, cities will never cease
from ill—no, nor the human race, as I
believe—and then only will our state have a possibility
of life, and see the light of day." " The truth is, that the
state in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern is
best and most quietly governed, and the state in which
they are most willing is the worst."

Thus writes Plato in his Republic, laying down the
conditions, which even to him appear impossible, under
which a state may be wisely governed. The ruler must be
a philosopher as well as a king; and he must govern
unwillingly, because he loves philosophy better than
dominion. Once in the history of the world these con-
ditions were fulfilled : in Marcus Aurelius we find the
philosopher king, the ruler who preferred the solitude of
the student to the splendour of the palace, the soldier who
loved the arts of peace better than the glory of war. It is
with no small interest that we turn to the records of
history to see what was the outward life led by this king;
but even more willipgly do we open the precious record ofviii

MARCUS A URELIUS.

his own thoughts, which reveal to us the inner life of the
philosopher.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was the adopted son of the
Emperor Antoninus Pius, who died in 161 A.D. He had
been brought up with the utmost care by his adoptive
father, and received the best instruction in poetry and
rhetoric, at that time the staples of a liberal education.
But his favourite study was philosophy, and when only
eleven years old he assumed the philosophers' simple dress,
adopted their mode of life ; and finding that his inclination
was chiefly towards Stoicism, he attached himself to this—
the strictest of the philosophic schools. A discipline of
monastic severity, that bade its followers disregard all
bodily comfort, all that is commonly called pleasure, and
care for nought but virtue, was indeed a strange training
for one destined for the imperial purple, and it hardly
appeared to be a fitting preparation for the cares of what
was then the one great Empire of the world. True, the Stoics
loved to call themselves citizens of the world, and to
inculcate that cosmopolitanism that is broader and nobler
than mere patriotism ; but while they maintained in theory
that the wise man should take part in politics, in practice
there was always something in the existing state of things
which made his doing so unadvisable. But Marcus
Aurelius could not choose his own lot. Destined for the
throne already by the Emperor Hadrian, associated in the
empire even in his adoptive father's lifetime, he could but
accept his lot, and in striving to practise the noble
principles he had learnt, pay to his Stoic teachers the truest
tribute.

His was a troubled reign. The Roman Empire, which
in the vigorous days of the Republic had been gradually
but surely extending its boundaries, had been consolidated,MARCUS AURELIUS.

fx

and newly administered by Julius Caesar and Augustus.
On the death of the latter it extended from the Atlantic on
the west to the Armenian mountains and Arabian deserts
on the east. On the south the African deserts had alone
stopped the conquering arms, while on the north a line of
natural boundaries was traced by the English Channel,
Rhine, Danube, Black Sea, and Mount Caucasus. Warned
by the ill-success that attended the later campaigns of his
generals on the Lower Rhine, Augustus had cautioned his
successors to aim at preserving rather than increasing their
dominions. Thus it came about, that between the years
14 and 161 a.d., when Marcus Aurelius succeeded to the
throne, only two fresh conquests had been made; Britain,
a source of more trouble than profit to the empire, and
Dacia, conquered by Trajan in 106 a.d.

Natural boundaries and Roman legions kept peace and
security for many years within the circle of Roman
dominion. But there were two weak points on these
borders. On the north the hardy German tribes on the
Danube and Upper Rhine, themselves hard pressed by
Slavonian intruders from Russia, threatened to invade the
Roman dominion; on the east the " insolent Parthian,"
long the terror of the Roman arms, was a constant source
of trouble and danger. The peace-loving Marcus Aurelius
was obliged to cope with both these enemies. The arms,
or rather the army, of the insolent and profligate Lucius
Yerus for a time subdued the Parthians, but no lasting
peace was destined Marcus Aurelius. He himself con-
ducted the campaigns on the Danube, and again and again
beat back the northern enemy in wars, of which the chief
interest to us now consists in the scant notes in the
Meditations—" This among the Quadi," " this at Carmun-
tum," showing how these precious records of a pure andX

MA AC US A URELIUS.

serene soul were composed amid the storms of battle and
the elation of victory. Nor were his troubles confined to
foreign wars. The plague, imported from the East, ravaged
Italy, though it did the state good service in carrying off
Lucius Yerus, Marcus's adoptive brother, whom, in obedi-
ence to the wishes of Antoninus, he had associated with
himself in the empire. There were famines too in the
land, with which the Emperor tried to cope by schemes of
carefully-organised charity. And, lastly, Avidius Cassius,
one of his most trusted and ablest generals, revolted in
Syria, and tried to obtain for himself the empire, deeming
it an easy matter to overcome a master who was so full of
generosity and compassion that he could only inspire con
tempt in the mind of the unphilosophic soldier. The
revolt was soon put down, but the leader was killed by one
of his own officers. The Emperor expressed only his
regret that he should have been thus deprived of the
luxury of forgiveness, and he carefully destroyed all docu
ments that could implicate any others in the revolt
Thus in all the trials of his life his philosophy inspired
noble action, and he might worthily be added to the short
list of those whom the Stoics acknowledged as really good
and great.

Amid these records of gentleness and forbearance it
seems strange to read that Marcus Aurelius permitted a
cruel persecution of the Christians. Among the victims
of this reign were Justin Martyr and Poly carp, and
numbers suffered in a general persecution of the churches
at Lyons and Yienne. It must not, however, be for
gotten that the persecution was political rather than
religious. Of the true teaching of Christianity Marcus
Aurelius knew little and cared less; but its followers, in
refusing to acknowledge a religion which included theMARCUS A URELIUS.

xi

Emperors among its deities, became rebels against the existing
order of things, and therein culpable. Of the old sincere
belief in the gods of Home but little could survive in a
state where the vote of the Senate had the power to add a
new divinity to the already bewildering list. So much the
more important were the outward forms, now that the actual
belief was gone, and the bond between Church and State
grew even closer, now that the Church could no longer
stand alone. Of the various systems of philosophy at that
time fashionable at Rome, all but the Epicurean could
readily embody the creed of the old religion, and by
treating the names of gods and heroes as mere symbols,
they contrived to combine outward conformity with inner
enlightenment. Not so the Christians. In their eyes the
whole system of idolatry was accursed. A silent protest
was insufficient. It was not enough to refrain from sacrifice
themselves ; in public and in private, in season and out of
season, they exhorted others to do the like ; not content
with leaving the statues of the gods unhonoured, they would
throw them from their pedestals, or insult them in the
presence of the faithful. What wonder that the Romans
looked on them with suspicion and hatred, and added to
their real offences the pretended ones of eating human flesh
and indulging in all manner of immorality. In our own
more enlightened day we know what strange reports gather
round any sect or school that happens to be unfashionable
or unpopular. What wonder, then, that the secret meet-
ings of the Christians should have given rise to strange
rumours, and that the persecutions " were the expression
of a feeling with which a modern state might regard a
set of men who were at once Mormons and Nihilists."*
Add to this that the Christians often actually provoked
* F. Myer's Classical Essays.xii	, MARCUS A URELIUS.

persecution, and we cease to wonder, though we cannot
but regret, that Marcus Aurelius, in simply allowing
the law to take its course, should have failed to give an
example of that perfect toleration to which Christianity
itself has never yet attained. Let us be content to call him,
with Farrar, "the noblest of Pagan Emperors," and sorrow-
fully acknowledge that we must seek in vain for a Christian
monarch to place beside him. Wars and troubles attended
Marcus Aurelius to the very end of his days. In 177 a.d.
fresh wars called him to the north. A presentiment seemed
to tell his friends at Home that they should not see him
again, and they begged him to address them his farewell
admonitions. There is nothing more striking in the whole
of Aurelius' career than this picture of the great general
discoursing for three days before his departure for the wars
on the deep questions of philosophy. This was indeed the
last time he was seen at Rome. Worn out by anxiety and
fatigue, after once more winning victory for the Roman
arms, he died, in Pannonia, on March 17th, 180 a.d.,
mourned with a note of such true sorrow as never before or
again was raised at the death of an Emperor.

It is time to inquire into the nature of that philosophy
which was capable of exercising an influence so distinctly
practical; yet, when we consider its teaching as laid down
by its founders, its distinct materialism and impracticable
ethics afford little suggestion of such fruits as it was destined
to bear in the Roman world.

The Stoic school was founded by Zeno at Athens about
290 b.c. At this time Greek philosophy, which, under
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, had lived through a short
period of idealism, was returning to its naturally material-
istic groove, and the founders of new systems looked back
to the pre-Socratic physicists for some theory of theMARCUS A URELIUS.

xiii

universe on which they might base their own. Metaphysical
speculation had ceased to charm; it was practical ethics, a
rule of life and conduct, that philosophy now desired to
supply; and though these later schools based ethics on
natural science, they were content to go back to the
investigators of old for a system, instead of devoting
themselves on their own account to scientific research.
The two most important schools at this epoch were the
Stoic and Epicurean; and while the latter sought in the
atomic theory of Democritus an explanation of the
universe, the former reverted to the " perpetual flux," the
eternal, ever-changing fire of Heraclitus.

Before there was a heaven or earth there was a primi-
tive fiery ether. This changes into all the other elements,
and yet in its nature ever retains the fiery substratum.
First this fiery ether transforms itself into a mass of vapour,
then into a watery fluid. Out of this are developed the
four elements as we know them : water, and solid earth,
and atmospheric air, and lastly consuming, destructive fire,
which is distinct from the everlasting ether. Fire and air
are active elements; water and earth, passive. The creation
begins to assume its present form with earth ; dry earth, by
reason of its weight, takes up a position at the centre of the
universe, around it gather the waters, above both is the
expanse of air, while fire and ether complete the whole,
ever circling round the other elements which are at rest.
The stars are fiery masses firmly embedded in ether, and
nourished by the exhalations of terrestrial vapours. But
they are also living beings, since they are formed out of
living, animating fire, and they may thus be regarded as
inferior or visible gods. "The sun and the celestial
deities, too, have their business assigned," says Marcus
Aurelius.xiv

MARCUS AURELIUS.

The world is faultless, say the Stoics, and must therefore
have been produced by an intelligent artificer. Hence the
highest reason is immanent in the world, and must be
regarded as self-conscious and personal. For has it not
created man, who is self-conscious and personal, and can the
created be greater than the creator ? And yet, paradoxical
as it may seem, the Stoic god is not a person, but is the
fiery ether that pervades all things. This fiery substratum
of all matter is its soul; the soul of the universe, which
holds together all things in one fixed law, is God himself.
In one aspect the Deity is but a fiery air-current; in
another he is Zeus, the intelligent, almost personal lord of
the universe. Both these aspects may be found in Marcus
Aurelius; but in him the simpler ethical teaching, the gentle
exhortation to a virtuous life, predominate over subtle
speculation on the origin of things, and be speaks of God in
language that suggests vividly to us the omnipotent,
omniscient, Deity of Monotheism.

The Stoics traced back all things to formless matter and
the informing, animating ether. Matter was in its nature
eternal, since the underlying fire was imperishable ; but all
things were being gradually consumed, and at the end of a
fixed period there would be a general conflagration, when
all things should be reabsorbed into the Deity. Then once
more they would be developed afresh, and another cycle
begin.

" The world's great age begins anew,

The golden days return,

The earth doth like a snake renew
Her winter weeds outworn,"

sings Shelley, but the Stoics expected no " brighter Hellas,"
or " fairer Tempes." The new things should be but as the
old; in the new cycle there should be another Socrates,MARCUS A URELIUS,

xv

destined to marry another Xanthippe, and meet with the
same rough treatment at her hands, and finally to be
accused by Anytus and Meletus, and once more utter his
glorious defence, and drain the cup of hemlock among his
sorrowing disciples.

Some such scheme of the universe was certainly accepted
by all the Stoics, but the later teachers, at any rate, attached
little importance to it, except in as far as it demonstrated
man's intimate connection with the Deity and his fellow-
men. They believed that the soul was material, and
extended in space. It is the fiery current that is diffused
through the body, and holds it together. They regarded it
as the guiding or dominant principle, the indestructible
divine spark. It is this, the reasoning element, which
establishes the relationship between God, the universal
reason, and man, to whose lot has fallen a minute share
of it; while the brotherhood of Man is maintained in
virtue of a kinship, not of flesh and blood, but of mind
and reason. " Though we are not just of the same flesh
and blood, yet our minds are nearly related." (Marcus
Aurelius, Med, ii. 1.)

Did the Stoics believe in a life after death ? It is not
easy to decide. They did not, like the Epicureans, fiercely
deny it, maintaining that annihilation alone could remove
the terrors of death. Undoubtedly the individual soul
must at last be absorbed into the universal soul; but
whether this happened at once, or not until the next con-
flagration, was a point on which authorities were not
agreed. In any case, the soul must return to the Deity
whence it sprang. This relation to the Deity was the
fundamental point of Stoic ethics. It follows from the
kinship that man's true good must lie in conformity with
the Deity. But God and reason are identical. ' Therefore,xvi

MARCUS AURELIUS.

life in accordance with reason must be best suited to the
constitution of the soul. And such a life must be in
accordance with virtue. Hence this is the highest good,
and happiness consists in virtue.

Thus the Stoics arrive at their main thesis. Virtue alone
is admirable, virtue is absolutely self-sufficient; the good
man needs no help from circumstances; neither sickness
nor adversity can harm him; he is a king, a god among
men. All so-called good, if it be not moral good, is included
in the class of " things intermediate," neither good nor
bad. Such absolute claims for virtue had never before
been made by any school. Aristotle had stipulated for
sufficient external advantages to enable a man to devote
himself without further care to the life of thought and
virtue. The Stoics would permit of no such compromise.
Virtue, and virtue only, was what they demanded. The
virtuous man might be a slave, a victim to disease, to
poverty, might be deprived of all he loved, yet he would
remain solely and absolutely happy. Virtue was one and
indivisible. Whoever was not virtuous was vicious; there
was no middle course. Here was a point in their doctrine
which could hardly be made to square with fact. We
know too well that men are not divided into virtuous and
vicious, but all possess some share of good and evil,
and that most men desire what is right, and fail, when
they do, from weakness rather than viciousness. The
Stoics, who demanded absolute virtue and disregard of
externals, had to confess that the wise men were few and
the foolish legion; nay, when hard pressed to name their
wise men, they would give a remarkable list—Hercules,
Odysseus, Socrates, the Cynics Antisthenes and Diogenes;
and in the later days of the school, Oato the younger, the
only Stoic among the number.MARCUS A URELIUS.

xvii

Such a list alone appears to us sufficient condemnation
of Stoicism in its earlier forms. Had no further advance
been made, Stoicism would be of small interest to us now,
but happily it was destined, as Capes remarks in his little
handbook on Stoicism, to be c< tempered by concessions to
common sense." The paradoxes about the wise man had
been borrowed from Cynicism, which was regarded by the
Stoics as " a counsel of perfection." Diogenes in his tub,
bidding Alexander stand out of his sunshine, might excite
surprise and wonder; but a movement that should lead a
whole community to abandon civilisation and resort to life
in tubs would be distinctly retrogressive. In later times
Christian hermits have at best saved their own souls, and
the exhortations delivered by St. Simeon Stylites from the
top of his pillar cannot have influenced the gaping multi-
tude as much as a noble life led in their midst. Without
the practical element there would have been no life in
Christianity, and Stoicism similarly had to descend from its
pedestal, and walk among men.

First of all, the theory of absolute good and evil had to
be modified. Virtue was still the only real good, and vice
the only real evil; but besides these they now admitted a
class of " things to be preferred," and another of " things to
be avoided." Among the former might be included health,
good repute, and other advantages which had formerly been
summarily disposed of as "indifferent." Again, while the
impossible wise man still remained the ideal of Stoicism, it
was admitted that there might be good men with lofty aims
and blameless lives who should yet dwell among men as
their fellows. In short, the wide gap between the sage
and the fool was now filled up, and as a result the Stoic
system was able to find a place for real, existing human
beings.

258xviii

MARCUS A URELIUS.

These more practical developments were coincident with
its introduction into the Roman world. The Romans were
nothing if not practical. A nation of soldiers and lawyers,
they had borrowed from Greece her culture, and adapted
it to their own needs. So too they borrowed their
philosophy When "conquered Greece led her barbarous
conqueror captive," a few of the nobler minds at Rome
discovered that there was something at Athens worth
carrying off besides the statues. Some would spend a year
or two at Athens studying philosophy, others induced the
greatest teachers themselves to bring their doctrines to
Rome; and in the first century B.C. all the Greek systems
were represented in the capital of the world. Among
them all Stoicism found most adherents. Its teachings of
simplicity, resignation, and calm in the midst of disturbance,
found willing listeners among the earnest Republicans, who
saw their hopes of liberty gradually fading before the
approaching monarchy. Its doctrine that suicide was
admissible, even admirable, when circumstances made it no
longer possible " to take arms against a sea of troubles,"
pointed to a mode of escape from the tyranny they could
not avert. Thus Cato sought death at his own hands when
the Republic perished, and it was Stoic teaching that forbade
Brutus and Cassius, though not Stoics themselves, to survive
the battle of Philippi

In the early days of the empire, when corruption and
license were at their height, the court evinced deep hatred
against the philosophers, more especially the Stoics. The
outspoken manner in which they chastised the wickedness
of the time may have led to their unpopularity; in any
case, there were several decrees of banishment against them,
and among the victims at one time was—MARCUS A URELIUS,

xix

" That halting slave, who in Nicopolis
Taught Arrian, when Vespasian's brutal son
Cleared Rome of what most shamed him."

"Well might the name of Epictetus be counted among
those who cheer the soul in evil days, for where can sweeter
resignation or truer piety be found than in such words as
these—" Dare to look up to God and say, Deal with me for
the future as thou wilt, I am of the same mind as thou art;
I am thine: I refuse nothing that pleases thee : lead me
where thou wilt: clothe me in any dress thou choosest: is
it thy will that I should hold the office of a magistrate,
that I should be in the condition of a private man, stay
here or be an exile, be poor, be rich ? I will make thy
defence to men in behalf of all these conditions." These
were not empty words, for they found their illustration in
the life of the speaker.

In the lame slave Stoic ethics rose to its noblest heights »
but it was left to the imperial philosopher, by broadening
and humanising its teaching, to give to the world in his
Meditations "the gospel of those who do not believe in
the supernatural."

These Meditations were not written as a whole—probably
they were never intended for publication; they are simply
the Emperor's commonplace book, where he entered his
reflections, often quite unconnected, on the things of time
and eternity. By this means he seems to have adopted his
own counsel of withdrawing into his own mind, there to
seek calm and quiet. It is noteworthy that in Marcus
Aurelius the claims of natural affection are never dis-
regarded. Book I. is entirely devoted to recording his
obligation to his parents, friends, and teachers for the
benefit of good training or example. For all those helps
and advantages which can be traced to none of these, heXX

MARCUS A URELIUS.

simply thanks " the gods/' without further discussion or
inquiry into their nature. The same loving disposition
gives life to the Stoic doctrine of the citizenship of the
world. Marcus Aurelius truly finds himself akin to all
mankind. " Mankind are under one common law ; and if
so, they must be fellow-citizens, and belong to the same
body politic. From whence it will follow that the whole
world is but one commonwealth " {Med, iv. 4). "Now a
social temper is that which man was principally designed
for" (vii. 55). This brotherhood of man will lead us to
strive for the common good, and reckon nothing else our
own advantage. " That which is not for the interest of the
whole swarm is not for the interest of a single bee " (vi. 54).
It will lead us also to pity and forgive our enemies. " And
since it has fallen to my share to understand the natural
beauty of a good action and the deformity of an ill one;
since I am satisfied the person disobliging is of kin to me,
and though we are not just of the same flesh and blood, yet
our minds are nearly related, being both extracted from the
Deity, I am convinced that no man can do a real injury,
because no man can force me to misbehave myself; nor can
I find it in my heart to hate or be angry with one of my
own nature and family. For we are all made for mutual
assistance, as the feet, the hands, and the eyelids; a3
the rows of the upper and under teeth " (ii. 1). Marcus
Aurelius loves to dwell on the instability and insignificance
of all things. " The vast continents of Europe and Asia
are but corners of the creation; the ocean is but a drop,
and Mount Athos but a grain in respect of the universe,
and the present instant of time but a point to the extent of
eternity. These things have all of them little, changeable,
and transitory beings" (vi. 36). We should accustom
ourselves to watch the eternal course of destruction, andMARCUS A URELIUS.

xxi

realise that the universe itself sustains no harm. The
death of one thing is the birth of another. " The universal
nature works the universal matter like wax. Now, for the
purpose, it is a horse; soon after you will have it melted down
and run it into the figure of a tree; then a man, then some-
thing else. And it is but a little while that it is fixed in one
species. Now a trunk feels no more pain by being knocked
in pieces than when it was first put together" (vii. 23).
"Death and generation are both mysteries of nature, and
somewhat resemble each other; for the first does but
dissolve those elements the latter had combined" (iv. 5).
Amid all this change the only true good is philosophy,
which teaches us to keep our guiding principles pure and
untainted by bodily impressions. "Toss me into what
climate or state you please. For all that, I will keep my
divine part content if it but exist and act in accordance
with its nature" (viii. 45). Nothing external can influence
us, unless we pronounce it good or evil. This is in accord-
ance with the Stoic doctrine, that all sensations make a
material impression on the soul; but it is left to the reason-
ing or guiding principle to decide whether they are true or
false, good or evil. "Hold in honour your opinionative
faculty, for this alone is able to prevent any opinion from
originating in your guiding principle that is contrary to
nature or the proper constitution of a rational creature"
(iii. 9.) " Do not suppose you are hurt, and your complaint
ceases; cease your complaint, and you are not hurt" (iv. 7),
writes the Emperor, using, as he so often does, an obscure
dogma to point a practical moral.

Such practical teaching abounds in Marcus Aurelius; but
he rises to higher flights. How gladly he quotes Antis-
thenes's comment on the kingly prerogative. " It is a royal
thing to be ill-spoken of for good deeds" (vii. 36). Howxxii

MARCUS AURELIUS.

well he satirises the craving for gratitude, so aptly defined
by a French writer as the * usury' we exact for our good
deeds. " Some men, when they do you a kindness, at once
demand the payment of gratitude from you; others are
more modest than this. However, they remember the
favour, and look upon you as their debtor in a manner. A
third sort shall scarce know what they have done. These
are much like a vine, which is satisfied by being fruitful in
its kind, and bears a bunch of grapes without expecting any
thanks for it. A fleet horse or greyhound do not make a
noise when they have done well, nor a bee neither when
she has made a little honey. And thus a man that has
done a kindness never proclaims it, but does another as
soon as he can, just like a vine that bears again the next
season. Now we should imitate those who are so obliging
as hardly to reflect on their beneficence " (v. 6). And how
scathing is this criticism of the affectation of virtue! " How
fulsome and hollow does that man look that cries—41 am
resolved to deal straightforwardly with you.' Hark you,
friend, what need of all this flourish 1 Let your actions
speak ; your face ought to vouch for your speech. I would
have virtue look out of the eye, no less apparently than
love does in the sight of the beloved. I would have
honesty and sincerity so incorporated with the constitution
that it should be discoverable by the senses" (xi. 15).

Here is another gem that sparkles with especial bright-
ness—"The best way of revenge is not to imitate the
injury " (vi. 6).

Yery noble is this conception of the true function of
prayer—"This man . . . invokes the gods to set him free
from some trouble; let it be your petition that your mind
may never put you upon such a wish. A third is very
devout to prevent the loss of his son. But I would haveMARCUS A URELIUS.

xxiii

you pray rather against the fear of losing him. Let this
be the rule for your devotions " (ix. 40). To quote from
the Meditations is a tempting task, but they lie before the
reader, and he can make his own choice. We must how-
ever briefly inquire how Marcus Aurelius treats those great
questions to which each system must find some answer, or
else abandon its claims to be a guide through life. The
origin of evil is a difficulty that every system has had to
meet. It is the first and most obvious argument against
the existence of an All-wise Providence. The Stoics boldly
faced the difficulty, and denied the facts. The world is
perfect, they said; all that seems evil is required for the
general good. On this point Marcus Aurelius is perfectly
orthodox, but he condemns too curious inquiry. " Does
your cucumber taste bitter —let it alone. Are there
brambles in your way 1—avoid them then. Thus far you
are well. But, then, do not ask, i What does the world with
such things as this 1' for a natural philosopher would laugh
at you. This expostulation is just as wise as it would be
to find fault with a carpenter for having sawdust, or a
tailor shreds, in his shop." Epictetus had said : " As a
mark is not set up for the purpose of missing it, so neither
does the nature of evil exist in the universe;" that is,
there is no absolute evil, it is all subordinated to good.
So too Marcus Aurelius: " Wickedness generally does no
harm to the universe; so too in particular subjects it does
no harm to anyone" (viii. 55). At times he points, not to
the universal law, which he regards as the providence of
the universe, but to the existence of gods, who must direct
all things for the best. But he never asserts this with any
certainty. The alternative is between gods and atoms,
between providence and chance ; and though Marcus
Aurelius pronounces for the former, he desires to showxxiv

MARCUS A URELIUS.

that even under the latter a man may be content. As to
the future life, he never speaks with any certainty. The
guiding principle of the soul can never perish, since it is a
part of the Deity ; but whether there is a future self-
conscious existence is a question he scarcely touches on.
This life is all that concerns us. " Though you were des-
tined to live three thousand, or, if you please, thirty
thousand years, yet remember that no man can lose any
other life than that which he lives now, neither is he
possessed of any other than that which he loses" (ii. 14).

The Stoic Emperor cannot say with our modern poet—

" What is our failure here but a triumph's evidence

For the fulness of the days? Have we withered or agonised ?

Why else was the pause prolonged but that singing might issue
thence ?

Why rushed the discords in, but that harmony might be prized ?"—

but he draws a noble moral from the transitoriness of our
being. Not " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die,"
is the teachings of the Meditations, but rather, " Let us use
this life well, since we have no other." The consolation for
death must be sought in the consciousness of duty done.
If we have lived well, we should be content to die, no
matter whether our years be many or few. Epicurus bade
his followers depart from life as a guest from a banquet
satisfied with his entertainment; the Stoics, in sterner
language, bid us leave the stage as an actor who has
performed his part. " Hark ye, friend ; you have been a
burgher of this great city. What matter whether you have
lived in it but five years or three 1 If you have observed
the laws of the corporation, the length or shortness of the
time makes no difference. Where is the hardship, then, if
Nature, that planted you here, orders your removal ? YouMARCUS AUREL1US.

XXV

cannot say you are sent off by a tyrant or an unjust judge.
No ; you quit the stage as fairly as a player does that has
his discharge from the master of the revels. But I have
only gone through three acts, and not held out till the end of
the fifth, you say. Well, but in life three acts make the
play entire. He that ordered the first scene now gives the
sign for shutting up the last. You are neither accountable
for one nor the other. Therefore, retire well-satisfied, for he
by whom you are dismissed is satisfied also " (xii. 36).

The lovers of Marcus Aurelius have been many, and of
every shade of opinion. Long quotes from the preface to
Pierron's translation—" A man illustrious in the church,
the Cardinal Francis Barberini the elder, nephew of Pope
Urban VIII., occupied the last years of his life in trans-
lating into his native language the thoughts of the Roman
Emperor, in order to diffuse among the faithful the
fertilising and vivifying seeds. He dedicated this trans-
lation to his soul, in order to make it, as he says; redder
than his purple at the sight of the virtues of this Gentile."
Montesquieu says of Marcus Aurelius : " On sent en soi-
meme un plaisir secret lorsqu' on parle de cet empereur;
on ne peut lire sa vie sans une espece d' attendrissement.
. . . Tel est I' effet qu'il produit qu' on a meilleure opinion
de soi-meme parce qu' on a meilleure opinion des hommes."

Matthew Arnold, in his Essays in Criticism, points out
with his usual clearness the reason of this popularity—" It
is remarkable how little of a merely local or temporary
character, how little of those scoriae which a reader has to
clear away before he gets to the precious ore, how little that
even admits of doubt and question, the morality of Marcus
Aurelius exhibits." il In general the action Marcus Aurelius
prescribes is action which every sound nature must recognise
as right., and the motives he assigns are motives which everyxxvi

MARCUS A URELIUS-

clear reason must recognise as valid. And so he remains
the special friend and comforter of all clear-headed and
scrupulous, yet pure and upward-striving souls, in those ages
most especially which walk by sight and not by faith, and
yet have no open vision. He cannot give such souls, per-
haps, all they yearn for, but he gives them much, and what
he gives them they can receive."

Perhaps there never was an age that more needed such
teaching than our own. On one hand, sectarian hatred and
dogmatism almost obscure the great truths common to all
mankind ; on the other, merciless and destructive criticism,
in undermining much that used to be generally accepted,
seems at times to threaten even the foundations of truth.
Here we may turn, as Renan bids us, to the ' absolute
religion' of the Meditations—<c La religion de Marc Aurele
est la religion absolue, celle qui rksulte du simple fait
d'une haute conscience morale plac^e en face de Tunivers.
Elle n' est d' aucune race ni d' aucun pays. Aucune
revolution, aucune changement, aucune ddcouverte, ne
pourront la changer."

The Meditations are chiefly known to English readers in
Long's translation, a most scholarly work, and remarkable
for its perfect fidelity to the original. Its one defect is a
certain lack of vigour, though it must be confessed that
the original too is defective in point of style and finish.
Before this appeared, the best-known translation was
Jeremy Collier's, a book with a charm all its own, in fact, a
version far more spirited than the original. Greek scholars
must always delight in Long's perfect accuracy, but
Collier's work has a value of its own. "Jeremy Collier,
too," observes Matthew Arnold, " like Mr. Long, regarded
in Marcus Aurelius the living moralist, and not the dead
classic; and his warmth of feeling gave to his style anMARCUS AURELIUS.

impetuosity and rhythm, which, from Mr. Long's style (I
do not blame him on that account) are absent.'' Long had
found fault with Collier's translation as "coarse and
vulgar." Mr. Arnold objects;—"Jeremy Collier's real
defect as a translator is not his coarseness and vulgarity,
but his imperfect acquaintance with Greek."

An attempt is here made to offer to the reader a
corrected, though I dare not say a correct, version of
Collier's translation. The general scheme of his work has
been left unaltered, but gross errors have been corrected,
and modern expressions substituted for others that have
grown obsolete. In a few cases, where the translator
seemed to have entirely misapprehended the meaning,
short passages have been re-written. In this work Long's
translation and a German version by Cless have afforded
me invaluable help, and in some cases I have made use of a
very charming, though antiquated, seventeenth century
translation by Meric Casaubon. In revising Book IV., I
have used Crossley's most helpful Notes. My warm thanks
are due to Mr. R. D. Hicks and Mr. E. Y. Arnold of
Trinity College, Cambridge, and to Mr. K Garnett of the
British Museum, for valuable help in this work and in the
correction of proofs.

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BOOK I.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW-«^WWWTi^WWTHE EMPEROR MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS:

HIS MEDITATIONS;

OR, DISCOURSES WITH HIMSELF.

--4-

BOOK I.

HE example of my grandfather Yerus
gave me a good disposition, not prone
to anger.

2. By the recollection of my father's
character, I learned to be both modest
and manly.

3.	As for my mother, she taught me to have re-
gard for religion, to be generous and open-handed, and
not only to forbear from doing anybody an ill turn,
but not so much as to endure the thought of it. By her
likewise I was bred to a plain, inexpensive way of
living, very different from the common luxury of the
rich.

4.	I have to thank my great-grandfather that I did
not go to a public school, but had good masters at
home, and learnt to know that one ought to spend
liberally on such things.IO

MEDITATIONS.

5.	From my governor I learned not to join either
the green or the blue faction on the race-ground, nor to
support the Parmularius or Scutarius at the gladi-
ators' shows. He taught me also to put my own
hand to business upon occasion, to endure hardship and
fatigues, and to throw the necessities of nature into
a little compass ; that I ought not to meddle with
other people's business, nor be easy in giving credit to
informers.

6.	From Diognetus, to shun vain pursuits, not to be
led away with the impostures of wizards and sooth-
sayers, who pretend they can discharge evil spirits,
and do strange feats by the strength of a charm ; not
to keep quails for the pit, nor to be eager after any
such thing. This Diognetus taught me to bear
freedom and plain-dealing in others, and apply myself
to philosophy. He also procured me the instruction
of Bacchius, Tandasis, and Marcianus. He likewise
put me upon improving myself by writing dialogues
when I was a boy; prevailed with me to prefer a
couch covered with hides to a bed of state; and
reconciled me to other like rigours of the Grecian
discipline.

7.	It was Rusticus that first made me desire to live
rightly, and come to a better state; who prevented
me from running into the vanity of the sophists, either
by writing speculative treatises, haranguing upon
moral subjects, or making a fantastical appearance or
display of generosity or discipline. This philosopher
kept me from yielding to the charms of rhetoric and
poetry, from affecting the character of a man ofMEDITATIONS.

n

pleasantry, from wearing my senator's robe in the
house, or anything of this kind which looks like con-
ceit and affectation. He taught me to write letters in
a plain, unornamental style, like that dated by him
from Sinuessa to my mother. By his instructions I
was persuaded to be easily reconciled to those who had
misbehaved themselves and disobliged me, as soon as
they desired reconciliation. And of the same master I
learned to read an author carefully. Not to take up
with a superficial view, or assent quickly to idle
talkers. And, to conclude with him, he gave me his
own copy of Epictetus's memoirs.

8.	Apollonius taught me to give my mind its due
freedom, and disengage it from dependence upon
chance, and not to regard, though ever so little,
anything uncountenanced by reason. To maintain an
equality of temper, even in acute pains, and loss of
children, or tedious sickness. His practice was an
excellent instance, that a man may be forcible and yet
unbend his humour as occasion requires. The heavi-
ness and impertinence of his scholars could seldom
rouse his ill-temper. As for his learning, and the
peculiar happiness of his manner in teaching, he was
so far from being proud of himself upon this score,
that one might easily perceive, he thought it one of
the least things which belonged to him. This great
man let me into the true secret of receiving an
obligation, without either lessening myself, or seeming
ungrateful to my friend.

9.	The philosopher Sextus recommended good-
humour to me, and showed me the pattern of a house-

25912

MEDITATIONS.

hold governed in a fatherly manner. He also bade
me make nature and reason my rule to live by. By
his precedent I was instructed to appear with an
unaffected gravity, to study the temper and circum-
stances of my friends in order to oblige them. I saw
him bearing with the ignorant and undiscerning,
complaisant and obliging to all people, so that his con-
versation was more charming than flattery; and yet
at the same time he was held in the highest reverence
by others. Conversing with this philosopher helped
me to draw up a true, intelligible, and methodical
scheme for life and manners, and never so much as
to show the least sign of anger, or any other disturb-
ing thought, but to be perfectly calm and indifferent,
yet tender-hearted. However, he let me see in him-
self that a man might show his good-will significantly
enough, without noise and display, and likewise possess
great knowledge without vanity and ostentation.

10.	Alexander the Grammarian taught me not to be
ruggedly critical about words, nor find fault with
people for improprieties of phrase or pronunciation,
but to set them right by speaking the thing properly
myself, and that either by way of answer, assent, or
inquiry, or by some such other indirect and suitable
correction.

11.	Fronto taught me that envy, tricking, and
dissimulation are the character and consequences of
tyranny; and that those we call patricians have
commonly not much fatherly feeling in them.

12.	Alexander the Platonist advised me, that with-
out necessity I should never say to anyone, nor writeMEDITATIONS.

I3

in a letter, that I am not at leisure, nor make business
an excuse to decline frequently the offices of humanity
to those we dwell with.

13.	I learned of Catulus not to slight a friend for
making a remonstrance, though it should happen to
be unreasonable, but rather to endeavour to restore
him to his natural humour. That, like Domitius and
Athenodotus, I should always speak well of those
who had the care of my education, and that I
should always preserve an hearty affection for my
children.

14.	I am indebted to Severus for the love I bear to
my relations, and towards justice and truth. He like-
wise made me acquainted with the character and senti-
ments of Cato, Brutus, Thrasea, Helvidius, and Dio;
and gave me the idea of an equal commonwealth, with
equal rights and equal speech, and also of a monarchy,
where the liberty of the subject was principally re-
garded. To mention some more of my obligations to
him :—It was of him I learned not to grow wise by
starts and sudden fancies, but to be a constant admirer
of philosophy and improvement; that a man ought to
be generous and obliging, hope the best of matters,
and never question the affection of his friends ; to be
free in showing a reasonable dislike of another, and
no less clear in his own'expectations and desires ; and
not to put his friends to the trouble of divining what
he would be at.

15.	I learned from Maximus to command myself,
and not to be too much drawn towards anything; to
be full of spirits under sickness and misfortune; tor4

MEDITA TIONS.

appear with modesty, obligingness, and dignity of
behaviour; to turn off business smoothly as it arises,
without drudging and complaint. Whatever he did,
all men believed him, that as he spoke, so he thought,
and whatever he did, that he did with a good intent.
He attained that greatness of mind, not to wonder or
start at anything; neither to hurry an enterprise,
nor sleep over it; never to be puzzled or dejected, nor
to put on an appearance of friendliness; not to be
angry or suspicious, but ever ready to do good, and to
forgive and speak truth; and all this as one who
seemed rather of himself to be straight and right, than
ever to have been rectified. Nobody ever could
fancy they were slighted by him, or dared to think
themselves his betters. Besides all this, he had an
agreeable wit.

16. In my adoptive father I observed a smooth
and inoffensive temper, with great steadiness in keep-
ing close to measures judiciously taken; a greatness
proof against vanity and the impressions of pomp
and power. From him a prince might learn to love
business and action, and be constantly at it; to be
willing to hear out any proposal relating to public
advantage, and undeviatingly give every man his due;
to understand the critical seasons and circumstances
for rigour or remissness. To have no boy-favourites.
Not to stand upon points of state and prerogative,
but to leave his nobility at perfect liberty in their
visits and attendance; and when he was upon his
progress, no man lost his favour for not being at
leisure to follow the court. To debate matters nicelyMEDITATIONS.

15

and thoroughly at the council-board, and then to
stand by what was resolved on, yet not hastily to give
up the inquiry, as one easily satisfied with sudden
notions and apprehensions. To be constant to a
friend, without tiring or fondness. To be always
satisfied and cheerful. To reach forward into the
future, and manage accordingly. Not to neglect the
least concerns, but all without hurry, or being embar-
rassed. Farther, by observing his methods and ad-
ministration, I had the opportunity of learning how
much it was the part of a prince to check the excesses
of panegyric and flattery. To have his magazines
and exchequer well furnished. To be frugal in his
expenses, without minding being lampooned for his
pains. Not to worship the gods to superstition ; not
to court the populace, either by prodigality or compli-
ment; but rather to be sober and firm upon all
occasions, keeping things in a steady decorum, with-
out chopping and changing of measures. To enjoy
the plenty and magnificence of a sovereign fortune
without bragging, and yet without making excuse; so
as freely to enjoy them when present, but when
wanting, not to be mortified at the loss of them. And
to behave himself so that no man could charge him
with sophistry, or buffooning, or being a pedant. No;
he was a person mature and perfect, scorning flattery,
and thoroughly qualified to govern himself and others.
As for those that were philosophers in earnest, he had
a great regard for them, but without reproaching those
who were otherwise, nor yet being led away by these.
He was condescending and familiar in conversation,i6

Meditations.

and pleasant too, but not to tiresomeness and excess.
As for his health, he was not anxious about it, like
one fond of living, or over-studious of bodily ap-
pearance, and yet managed his constitution with
that care as seldom to stand in need of the assist-
ance of physic or outward applications. Farther, he
never envied and browbeat those that were eminent
in any faculty or science, as eloquence, or knowledge
of the laws or morals; but, on the contrary, encouraged
them in their ways, and promoted their reputation.
He observed fitness and custom in all his actions, and
yet did not seem to regard them. He was not fickle
and fluttering in his humour, but constant both to
place and undertaking; and I have seen him, after
violent fits of the headache, return fresh and vigorous
to his usual business. He kept but few things to
himself, and those were secrets of government. He
was very moderate and frugal in shows, public
buildings, liberalities, and such like, being one that
did not so much regard the popularity as the Tight-
ness of an action. It was none of his custom to bathe
at unusual hours, or to be overcome with the fancy of
building, to study eating and luxury, to value the
curiosity of his clothes, or the shape and person of his
servants. His cloak came from Lorium, his villa on
the coast; at Lanuvium, he wore for the most part
only a tunic; and at Tusculum he would scarcely
so much as put on a cloak without making an excuse
for it. To take him altogether, there was nothing of
ruggedness, immodesty, or eagerness in his temper.
Neither did he ever seem to drudge and sweat at theMEDITATIONS,

i7

helm. Things were dispatched at leisure, and without
being felt; and yet the administration was carried on
without confusion, with great order, force, and uni-
formity. Upon the whole, what was told of Socrates
is applicable to him; for he was so much master of
himself, that he could either take or leave those con-
veniences of life with respect to which most people
are either uneasy without them, or intemperate with
them. Now, to hold on with fortitude in one con-
dition and sobriety in the other is a proof of a great
soul and an impregnable virtue, such as he showed in
the sickness of Maximus.

17. I have to thank the gods that my grandfathers,
parents, sister, preceptors, relations, friends, and
domestics were almost all of them persons of probity,
and that I never happened to disoblige or misbehave
.myself towards any of them, notwithstanding that my
disposition was such, that, had occasion offered, I
might have acted thus ; but by the goodness of the
gods, I met with no provocations to reveal my infirmi-
ties. It is likewise by their providence that my child-
hood was no longer managed by my grandfathers
mistress; that I preserved the flower of my youth;
that I was subject to the emperor my father, and bred
under him, who wTas the most proper person living to
put me out of conceit with pride, and to convince me
that it is possible to live in a palace without the cere-
mony of guards, without richness and distinction of
habit, without torches, statues, or such other marks of
royalty and state; and that a prince may shrink him-
self almost into the figure of a private gentleman, andi8

MEDITATIONS.

jet act, nevertheless, with all the force and majesty
of his character when the common weal requires it.
It is the favour of the gods that I happened to meet
with a brother, whose behaviour and affection is such
as to contribute both to my pleasure and improve-
ment. It is also their blessing that my children were
neither stupid nor misshapen; that I made no far-
ther advances in rhetoric, poetry, and such other
amusements, which possibly might have engaged my
fancy too far, had I found myself a considerable pro-
ficient; that, without asking, I gave my governors
that share of honour which they seemed to desire,
and did not put them off from time to time with pro-
mises and excuses, because they were yet but young;
that I had the happiness of being acquainted with
Apollonius, Rusticus, and Maximus; that I have a
clear idea pf the life in accordance with nature, and
the impression frequently refreshed: so that, con-
sidering the extraordinary assistance and directions
of the gods, it is impossible for me to miss the road of
nature unless by refusing to be guided by the dictates
and almost sensible inspirations of heaven. It is by
their favour that my constitution has held out so well,
under a life of fatigue and business ; that I never had
to do with Benedicta or Theodotus ; and, when I fell
into some fits of love, I was soon cured; that when I
fell out with Rusticus, as it frequently happened, I
was not transported into any act of violence ; that I
had the satisfaction of my mother's life and company
a considerable while, though she was destined to die
yourjg; that when I was willing to relieve theMEDITATIONS.

19

necessities of others, I was never told that the
exchequer was empty ; and, again, it is they that kept
me from standing in need of any man's fortune.
Farther, it is from them that my wife is so very
obedient and affectionate, and so remote from luxury;
that I had choice of good governors for my children ;
that remedies were prescribed me in a dream against
giddiness and spitting of blood, as at Cajeta, by
an ointment; that when I had a mind to look
into philosophy, I did not meet with a sophist to
instruct me ; that I did not spend too much time in
reading history, chopping logic, or considering the
heavens. Now all these points could never have been
compassed without a protection from above and the
gods presiding over fate.

This was written in the country of the Quadi, at
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BOOK II.

JA.	-V- «V>	jMMg.

WWWWW W r/V WW WW WW WW WW WW www www WWWBOOK II.

EMEMBER to put yourself in mind
every morning, that before night it
will be your luck to meet with some
busy-body, with some ungrateful,
abusive fellow, with some knavish,
envious, or unsociable churl or other. Now all this
perverseness in them proceeds from their ignorance of
good and evil; and since it has fallen to my share to
understand the natural beauty of a good action, and
the deformity of an ill one—since I am satisfied the
person disobliging is of kin to me, and though we are
not just of the same flesh and blood, yet our minds
are nearly related, being both extracted from the
Deity—I am likewise convinced that no man can do
me a real injury, because no man can force me to
misbehave myself, nor can I find it in my heart to hate
or to be angry with one of my own nature and family.
For we are all made for mutual assistance, as the feet,
the hands, and the eyelids, as the rows of the upper
and under teeth, from whence it follows that clashing
and opposition is perfectly unnatural. Now such an
unfriendly disposition is implied in resentment and
aversion.24

MEDITATIONS.

2.	This being of mine, all there is of it, consists of
flesh, breath, and the ruling part. Away with your
books then. Suffer not your mind any more to
be distracted. It is not permitted. As for your
body, value it no more than if you were just
expiring. For what is it ? Nothing but a little
blood and bones; a piece of network, wrought
out of nerves, veins, and arteries twisted together.
In the next place, consider what sort of thing
your breath is; why, only a little air, and that
not constant, but every moment let out of your lungs,
and sucked in again. The third part of your composi-
tion is the ruling part. Now consider thus: you are
an old man: do not suffer this noble part of you under
servitude any longer. Let it not be moved by the
springs of selfish passions; let it not quarrel with fate;
be uneasy at the present, or afraid of the future.

3.	Providence shines clearly through the works of
the gods; even the works of chance are not without
dependence on Nature, being only an effect of that
chain of causes which are under a providential regula-
tion. Indeed, all things flow from this fountain;
besides, there is necessity, and the interest of the
whole universe, of which you are a part. Now, that
which is both the product and support of universal
Nature, must by consequence be serviceable to every
part of it; but the world subsists upon change, and is
preserved by the mutation of the simple elements, and
also of things mixed and compounded, and what it
loses one way it gets another. Let these reflections
satisfy you, and make them your rule to live by. AsMEDITATIONS.

25

for books, cast away your thirst after them, that you
may not die complaining, but go off in good-humour,
and heartily thank the gods for what you have had.

4.	Remember how often you have postponed mind-
ing your interest, and let slip those opportunities
the gods have given you. It is now high time to
consider what sort of world you are part of, and
from what kind of governor of it you are descended ;
that you have a set period assigned you to act in,
and unless you improve it to brighten and compose
your thoughts, it will quickly run off with you, and be
lost beyond recovery.

5.	Take care always to remember that you are a
man and a Roman , and let every action be done with
perfect and unaffected gravity, humanity, freedom,
and justice. And be sure you entertain no fancies,
which may give check to these qualities. This is
possible, if you will but perform every action as
though it were your last; if your appetites and
passions do not cross upon your reason; if you keep
clear of rashness, and have nothing of insincerity
and self-love to infect you, and do not complain of your
destiny. You see what a few points a man has to
gain in order to attain to a godlike way of living;
for he that comes thus far, performs all which the
immortal powers will require of him.

6.	Continue to dishonour yourself, my soul! Neither
will you have much time left to do yourself honour.
For the life of each man is almost up already; and
yet, instead of paying a due regard to yourself, you
place your happiness in the souls of other men.26

MEDITATIONS.

7.	Do not let accidents disturb, or outward objects
engross your thoughts, but keep your mind quiet and
disengaged, that you may be at leisure to learn some-
thing good, and cease rambling from one thing to
another. There is likewise another sort of roving to
be avoided ; for some people are busy and yet do
nothing ; they fatigue and wear themselves out, and
yet aim at no goal, nor propose any general end of
action or design.

8.	A man can rarely be unhappy by being ignorant
of another's thoughts; but he that does not attend to
the motions of his own is certainly unhappy.

9.	These reflections ought always to be at hand:—
To consider well the nature of the universe and my
own nature, together with the relation betwixt them,
and what kind of part it is, of what kind of whole;
and that no mortal can hinder me from acting and
speaking conformably to the being of which I am a part.

10.	Theophrastus, in comparing the degrees of faults
(as men would commonly distinguish them), talks like
a philosopher when he affirms that those instances of
misbehaviour which proceed from desire are greater
than those of which anger is the occasion. For a
man that is angry seems to quit his hold of reason
unwillingly and with pain, and start out of rule before
he is awrare. But he that runs riot out of desire,
being overcome by pleasure, loses all hold on himself,
and all manly restraint. Well, then, and like a philo-
sopher, he said that he of the two is the more to
be condemned that sins with pleasure than he that
sins with grief. For the first looks like an injuredMEDITATIONS.

27

person, and is vexed, and, as it were, forced into a
passion; whereas the other begins with inclination,
and commits the fault through desire.

11. Manage all your actions, words, and thoughts
accordingly, since you may at any moment quit life.
And what great matter is the business of dying ? If
the gods are in being, you can suffer nothing, for
they will do you no harm. And if they are not, or take
no care of us mortals—why, then, a world without
either gods or Providence is not worth a man's while
to live in. But, in truth, the being of the gods, and
their concern in human affairs, is beyond dispute.
And they have put it entirely in a man's power not to
fall into any calamity properly so-called. And if
other misfortunes had been really evils, they would
have provided against them too, and furnished man
with capacity to avoid them. But how can. that
which cannot make the man worse make his life so ?
I can never be persuaded that the universal Nature
neglected these matters through want of knowledge,
or, having that, yet lacked the power to prevent or
correct the error; or that Nature should commit such
a fault, through want of power or skill, as to suffer
things, really good and evil, to happen promiscuously
to good and bad men. Now, living and dying, honour
and infamy, pleasure and pain, riches and poverty—
all these things are the common allotment of the
virtuous and vicious, because they have nothing
intrinsically noble or base in their nature; and,
therefore, to speak properly, are neither good nor
bad,

26928

MEDITATIONS.

: 12. Consider how quickly all things are dissolved
and resolved; the bodies and substances themselves
into the matter and substance of the world, and their
memories into its general age and time. Consider, too,
the objects of sense, particularly those which charm
us with pleasure, frighten us with pain, or are most ad-
mired for empty reputation. The power of thought will
show a man how insignificant, despicable, and paltry
these things are, and how soon they wither and die. It
will show him what those people are upon whosfe
fancy and good word the being of fame depends:
also the nature of death, which, if once abstracted
from the pomp and terror of the idea, will be found
nothing more than a pure natural action. Now he
that dreads the course of nature is a very child;
but this is not only a work of nature, but is also pro-
fitable to her. Lastly, we should consider how we are
related to the Deity, and in what part of our being,
and in what condition of that part.

13. Nothing can be more unhappy than the
curiosity of that man that ranges everywhere, and
digs into the earth, as the poet says, for discovery;
that is wonderfully busy to force by conjecture a
passage into other people's thoughts, but does not
consider that it is sufficient to reverence and serve the
divinity within himself. And this service consists in
this, that a man keep himself pure from all violent
passion, and evil affection, from all rashness and
vanity, and from all manner of discontent towards
gods or men. For as for the gods, their administration
ought to be revered upon the score of excellency;MEDITATIONS.

29

and as for men, their actions should be well taken for
the sake of common kindred. Besides, they are often
to be pitied for their ignorance of good and evil;
which incapacity of discerning between moral qualities
is no less a defect than that of a blind man, who
cannot distinguish between white and black.

14.	Though you were to live three thousand, or, if
you please, thirty thousand of years, yet remember
that no man can lose any other life tlian that which
he now lives, neither is he possessed of any other than
that which he loses. Whence it follows that the
longest life, as we commonly speak, and the shortest,
come all to the same reckoning. For the present is
of the same duration everywhere. Everybody's loss,
therefore, is of the same bigness, and reaches no
further than to a point of time, for no man is capable
of losing either the past or the future; for how can
one be deprived of what he has not ? So that under
this consideration there are two notions worth re-
membering. One is, that Nature treads in a circle, and
has much the same face through the whole course
of eternity. And therefore it signifies not at all
whether a man stands gazing here an hundred, or two
hundred, or an infinity of years; for all that he gets
by it is only to see the same sights so much the
oftener. The other hint is, that when the longest
and shortest-lived persons come to die, their loss is
equal; they can but lose the present as being the only
thing they have; for that which he has not, no man
can be truly said to lose.

15.	Monimus, the Cynic philosopher, used to say3°

MEDITATION'S.

that all things were but opinion. Now this saying
may undoubtedly prove serviceable, provided one
accepts it only as far as it is true.

16.	There are several different ways by which a
man's soul may do violence to itself ; first of all, when
it becomes an abscess, and, as it were, an excrescence
on the universe, as far as in it lies. For to be vexed
at anything that happens is a separation of ourselves
from nature, in some part of which the natures of all
other things are contained. Secondly, it falls under
the same misfortune when it hates any person, or goes
against him, with an intention of mischief, which is
thencase of the angry and revengeful. Thirdly, it
wrongs itself when it is overcome by pleasure or pain.
Fourthly, when it makes use of art, tricking, and
falsehood, in word or action. Fifthly, when it does
not know what it would be at in a business, but runs
on without thought or design, whereas even the least
undertaking ought to be aimed at some end.
Now the end of rational beings is to be governed
by the law and reason of the most venerable city and
constitution.

17.	The extent of human life is but a point; its
substance is in perpetual flux, its perceptions dim,
and the whole composition of the body tending to
corruption. The soul is but a whirl, fortune not to be
guessed at, and fame undiscerning—in a word, that
which belongs to the body is a flowing river, and what
the soul has is but dream and bubble. Life is but a
campaign, or course of travels, and after-fame is
oblivion. What is it, then, that will stick by a man ?MEDITATIONS.

3i

Why, nothing but philosophy. Now, this consists
in keeping the divinity within us from injury and
disgrace, superior to pleasure and pain, doing nothing
at random, without any dissembling and pretence, and
independent of the motions of another. Farther,
philosophy brings the mind to take things as they
fall, and acquiesce in their distribution, inasmuch as all
events proceed from the same cause with itself; and,
above all, to have an easy prospect of death, as being
nothing more than a dissolving of the elements of which
each thing is composed. Now, if the elements them-
selves are never the worse for running off one into
another, what if they should all change and be dis-
solved? Why should any man be concerned at the
consequence ? All this is but Nature's method; now,
Nature never does any mischief.

Written at Camuntum.

BOOK III.

OA.	»V—V--V- «V- -V- «Y- -V- -V- -Vr-V-

w W WW WWW '< C W W W W WW WW WW WW WW WW W^ABOOK III

EE ought not only to remember that life
is wearing off, and a smaller part of it
is left daily, but also to consider that if
a man's life should happen to be longer
than ordinary, yet it is uncertain
whether his mind will keep pace with his years, and
afford him sense enough for business, and power to
contemplate things human and divine. For if the man
begins to dote, it is true the mere animal life goes on;
he may breathe, and be nourished, and be furnished
with imagination and appetite; but to make any proper
use of himself, to fill up the measure of his duty, to
distinguish appearances, and to know whether it is
time for him to walk out of the world or not—as to
all such noble functions of reason and judgment, the
man is perfectly dead already. It concerns us, there-
fore, to push forward, and make the most of our
matters, for death is continually advancing; and
besides that, our understanding sometimes dies before
us.

2. It is worth while to observe that the least
thing that happens naturally to things natural has
something in itself that is pleasing and delightful.36

MEDITATIONS.

Thus, for example, there are cracks and little breaks
on the surface of a loaf, which, though never intended
by the baker, have a sort of agreeableness in them,
which invites the appetite. Thus figs, when they are
most ripe, open and gape; and olives, when they fall
)f themselves and are near decaying, are particularly
pretty to look at. The bending of an ear of corn, the
brow of a lion, the foam of a boar, and many other things,
if you take them singly, are far enough from being
beautiful; but when they are looked on as effects of
the products of Nature, help to adorn and attract.
Thus, if a man has but inclination and thought enough
to examine the product of the universe, he will find
the most unpromising appearances in the results of
Nature not without charm, and that the more remote
appendages have somewhat to recommend them. One
thus prepared will be no less pleased to see the gaping
jaws of living beasts than the imitations of painters
and sculptors, and with chastened eyes he will find
beauty in the ripeness of age as well as in the blossom
of youth. I grant many of these things will not
charm everyone, but only those who are truly in
harmony with Nature and her works.

3. Hippocrates, who cured so many diseases, himself
fell ill and died. The Chaldeans, who foretold other
people's death, at last met with their own fate.
Alexander, Pompey, and Julius Caesar, who had
destroyed so many towns, and cut off so many
thousands of horse and foot in the field, were forced
at last to march off themselves. Heraclitus, who
argued so much about the universal conflagration, diedMEDITATIONS.

37

through water by a dropsy. Democritus was eaten
up with vermin; another sort of vermin destroyed
Socrates. What are these instances for ? Look you :
you have embarked, you have made your voyage and
your port; debark then without more ado. If you
happen to land upon another world, there will be
gods enough to take care of you; but if it be your
fortune to drop into nothing, why, then you will be no
more solicited with pleasure and pain. Then you will
have done drudging for your outer covering, which is
the more unworthy in proportion as that which serves
it is worthy; for the one is all soul, intelligence, and
divinity, whereas the other is but dirt and corruption.

4. For the future, do not spend your thoughts
upon other people, unless you are led to it by common
interest. For the prying into foreign business—that
is, musing upon the talk, fancies, and contrivances of
another, and guessing at the what and why of his
actions—does but make a man forget himself, and
ramble from his own guiding principle. He ought,
therefore, not to work his mind to no purpose, nor
throw a superfluous link into the chain of thought;
and more especially, to avoid curiosity &nd malice in
his inquiry. Accustom yourself, therefore, to think
upon nothing but what you could freely reveal, if the
question were put to you; so that if your soul were
thus laid open, there would nothing appear but what
was sincere, good-natured, and public-spirited—not
so much as one voluptuous or luxurious fancy, nothing
of hatred, envy, or unreasonable suspicion, nor aught
else which you could not bring to the light without33

MEDITATIONS,

blushing. A man thus qualified, who does not delay
to assume the first rank among mortals, is a sort of
priest and minister of the gods, and makes a right use
of the Deity within him. By the assistance thereof,
he is preserved, uninfected with pleasure, invulnerable
against pain—out of the reach of injury, and above
the malice of evil people. Thus he wrestles in the
noblest fight, to hold his own against all his passions;
and penetrated with the spirit of justice, welcomes with
his whole heart all that happens and is allotted to
him. He never minds other people's speech, thoughts,
Or actions, unless public necessity and general good
require it. No; he keeps himself to his own busi-
ness, and contemplates that portion of the whole
allotted him by the fates, and endeavours to do the
first as it should be, and believes that his lot is good.
For every man's fate is suitable, since it is suited to
him. He considers that the rational principle is akin
in all men, and that general kindness and concern for
the whole world is no more than a piece of human
nature—that not every one's good opinion is not worth
the gaining, but only that of those who seek to live
in accordance with Nature. As for others, he knows
their way of living, both at home and abroad, by day
and by night, and their companions in their evil way
of life, and he bears it in mind. And, why, indeed,
should he value the commendation of such people,
who are not able even to please themselves ?

5. Be not unwilling, selfish, unadvised, or pas-
sionate in anything you do. Do not affect quaint-
ness and points of wit: neither talk nor meddle moreMEDITATIONS.

39

than is necessary. Take care that the divinity within
you has a creditable charge to preside over; that you
appear in the character of your sex and age. Act like
a Roman Emperor that loves his country, and be
always in a readiness to quit the field at the first
summons; and ere you claim your discharge, manage
your credit so, that you need neither swear yourself
nor want a voucher. Let your air be cheerful; depend
not upon external supports, nor beg your tranquillity
of another. And, in a word, never throw away your
legs, to stand upon crutches.

6. If, in the whole compass of human life, you find
anything preferable to justice and truth; to temperance
and fortitude; to a mind self-satisfied with its own
rational conduct, and entirely resigned to fate—if, I
say, you know anything better than this, turn to it
with your whole soul, and enjoy it, accounting it the
best. But if there is nothing more valuable than the
divinity implanted within you, and this is master of
its appetites, examines all impressions, and has
detached itself from the senses, as Socrates used to
say, and shows itself submissive to the government of
the gods, and helpful and benevolent to mankind—if
all things are trifles compared with this, give way to
nothing else. For if you are once inclined to any
such thing, it will no longer be in your power to give
your undivided preference to what is your own
peculiar good, for it is not lawful that anything of
another kind or nature, as either popular applause, or
power, or riches, or pleasures, should be suffered to
contest with what is rationally and politically good.40

MEDITATIONS,

All these things, if but for a while they begin to
please, presently prevail, and pervert a man's mind.
Let your choice therefore run all one way, and be bold
and resolute for that which is best. Now what is
profitable is best. If that means profitable to man as
he is a rational being, stand to it; but if it means
profitable to him as a mere animal, reject it, and keep
your judgment without arrogance. Only take care to
make inquiry secure.

7.	Think nothing for your interest which makes
you break your word, quit your modesty, hate, suspect,
or curse any person, or inclines you to any practice
which will not bear the light and look the world in
the face. For he that values his mind and the worship
of his divinity before all other things, need act no
tragic part, laments under no misfortune, and wants
neither solitude nor company ; and, which is still more,
he will neither fly from life nor pursue it, but is
perfectly indifferent about the length or shortness of
the time in which his soul shall be encompassed by
his body. And if he were to expire this moment, he
is as ready for it as for any other action that may
be performed with modesty and decency. For all his
life long, this is his only care—that his mind may
always be occupied as befits a rational and social
creature.

8.	If you examine a man that has been well-
disciplined and purified by philosophy, you will find
nothing-that is unsound, foul, or false in him. Death
can never surprise his life as imperfect, so that
nobody can say he goes off the stage before his part isMEDITATIONS.

4.T

quite played. Besides, there is in him nothing servile
or affected; he neither attaches himself too closely
to others, nor keeps aloof from them; he is neither
responsible to them, nor does he avoid them.

9.	Hold in honour your opinionative faculty, for this
alone is able to prevent any opinion from originating
in your guiding principle that is contrary to Nature
or the proper constitution of a rational creature. Now,
a rational constitution enjoins us to do nothing rashly,
and to be kindly disposed towards men, and to submit
willingly to the gods.

10.	As for other speculations, throw them all out
of your head, excepting those few precepts above
mentioned—remembering withal, that every man's
life lies all within the present, which is but a point of
time; for the past is spent, and the future is
uncertain. Life moves in a very narrow compass;
yes, and men live in a small corner of the world
too. And the most lasting fame will stretch but
to a sorry extent; for, alas! poor transitory mortals
who hand it down know little even of themselves,
much less of those who died long before their time.

11.	To the foregoing hints you may add this which
follows:—make for yourself a particular description
and definition of every object that presents itself
to your mind, that you may thoroughly contem-
plate it in its own nature, bare and naked, wholly
and separately. And in your own mind call itself
and the parts of which it is composed, and into
which it will be resolved, by its own and proper
name; for nothing is so likely to raise the mind42

MEDITATIONS.

to a pitch of greatness as the power truly and
methodically to examine and consider all things that
happen in this life, and so to penetrate into their
natures as to apprehend at once what sort of purpose
each thing serves, and what sort of universe makes use
of it—what value it bears to the whole, and what to
man, who is a citizen of that great capital, in respect
of which all other towns are no more than single
families—what is this object which makes an im-
pression on me; how long can it last; what virtue
does it require of me; is it good-nature, fortitude,
truth, simplicity, self-sufficiency, or any of the rest ?
On each occasion a man should be ready to pronounce,
" This was sent me by heaven, this by destiny, or the
combinations of fate, or by one of the same clan,
or family, or company as myself, who knows not
what is natural for him. But I do know; therefore I
am just and friendly to him, and treat him according
to the natural laws of our communion. However, in
things indifferent I take care to rate them according
to their respective value."

12. If yoti will be governed by reason, and manage
what lies before you with industry, vigour, and
temper; if you will not run out after new distraction,
but keep your divinity pure, even as though you must
at once render it up again, your mind staunch and
well disciplined, as if this trial of behaviour were your
last; and, if you will but cleave to this, and be
true to the best of yourself, fearing and desiring
nothing, but living up to your nature, standing boldly
by the truth of your word, and satisfied therewith,MEDITATIONS.

43

then you will be a happy man. But the whole world
cannot hinder you from so doing.

13.	As surgeons always have thetr instruments and
knives ready for sudden occasions, so be you always
furnished with rules and. principles to let you into
the knowledge of things human and divine, remem-
bering even in your slightest action the connection
these two have with each other. For without a
regard for things divine, you will fail in your
behaviour towards men ; and again, the reasoning
holds for the other side of the argument.

14.	Wander at random no longer. Alas ! you have
no time left to peruse your diary, to read over the
Greek and Roman history, or so much as your own
commonplace book, which you collected to serve you
when you were old. Hasten then towards the goal. Do
not flatter and deceive yourself. Come to your own
aid while yet you may, if you have a kindness for
yourself.

15.	Men do not know in how many senses they
can take the words to steal, to buy, to sow, to be quiet,
to see ivhat should be done; for this is not effected by
eyes, but by another kind of vision.

16.	There are three things which belong to a man—
body, soul, and mind. Sensation belongs to the body,
impulse to the soul, and reason to the mind. To have
the senses stamped with the impression of an object
is common to brutes and cattle; to be hurried and
convulsed with passion is the quality of beasts of
prey and men of pleasure—such as Phalaris and Nero
—of atheists and traitors, too, and of those who do

26144

MEDITATIONS.

not cjare what they do when no man sees them. Now
since these qualities are common, let us find out the
mark of a man of probity. His distinction, then, lies
in letting reason guide his practice, in contentment
with all that is allotted him, keeping pure the divinity
within him, untroubled by a crowd of appearances,
preserving it tranquil, and obeying it as a god. He is
all truth in his words and justice in his actions; and
if the whole world should disbelieve his integrity,
dispute his character, and question his happiness, he
would neither take it ill in the least, nor turn aside
from that path that leads to the aim of life, towards
which he must move pure, calm, well-prepared, and
with perfect resignation in his fate.•ft^wwwwwwwww^WWWWWWW 7?'WWwwwwwww

BOOK IV.BOOK IV.

HEN the mind acts up to Nature, she is
rightly disposed, and takes things as
they come, and tacks about with her
circumstances, as for fixing the con-
dition of her activity, she is not at all solicitous about
that. It is true, she is not perfectly indifferent; she
moves forward with a preference in her choice; but if
anything comes cross, she falls to work upon it, and
like fire converts it into fuel; for like this element,
when it is weak, it is easily put out, but when once
well kindled it seizes upon what is heaped upon it,
subdues it into its own nature, and increases by
resistance.

2.	Let every action tend to some point, and be
perfect in its kind.

3.	It is the custom of people to go to unfrequented
places and country places and the sea-shore and the
mountains for retirement; and this you often earnestly
desired. But, after all, this is but a vulgar fancy,
for it is in your power to withdraw into yourself
whenever you desire. Now one's own mind is a place
the most free from crowd and noise in the world, if
a man's thoughts are such as to ensure him perfect48

MEDITATIONS.

tranquillity within, and this tranquillity consists in the
good ordering of .the mind. Your way is, therefore,
to make frequent use of this retirement, and refresh
your virtue in it. And to this end, be always pro-
vided with a few short, uncontested notions, to keep
your understanding true, and send you back content
with the business to which you return. For instance:
What is it that troubles you ? It is the wickedness of
the world. If this be your case, out with your anti-
dote, and consider that rational beings were made for
mutual advantage, that forbearance is one part of
justice, and that people misbehave themselves against
their will. Consider, likewise, how many men have
embroiled themselves, and spent their days in dis-
putes, suspicion, and animosities; and now they are
dead, and burnt to ashes. Be quiet, then, and disturb
yourself no more. But, it may be, the distribution of
the world does not please you. Recall the alternative,
and argue thus : either Providence or atoms rule the
universe. Besides, you may recall the proofs that the
world is, as it were, one great city and corporation.
But possibly the ill state of your health afflicts you.
Pray reflect, your intellect is not affected by the
roughness or smoothness of the currents of sensation,
if she will retire and take a view of her own privi-
lege and power. And when she has done this,
recollect the philosophy about pleasure and pain, to
which you have even now listened and assented.
Well! it may be the concern of fame sits hard upon
you. If you are pinched here, consider how quickly
all things vanish, and are forgotten—what an immensemeditations.

49

chaos there stands on either side of eternity. Ap-
plause ! consider the emptiness of the sound, the
precarious tenure, the little judgment of those that
give it us, and the narrow compass it is confined to ;
for the whole globe is but a point; and of this little,
how small is your habitation, and how insignificant
the number and quality of your admirers. Upon the
whole, do not forget to retire into the little realm of
your own. And, above all things, let there be no
straining nor struggling in the case, but move freely,
and contemplate matters like a human being, a citizen,
and a mortal. And among the rest of your stock, let
these two maxims be always ready : first, that things
cannot disturb the soul, but remain motionless with-
out, while disturbance springs from the opinion within
the soul. The second is, to consider that the scene is
just shifting and sliding off into nothing; and that
you yourself have seen abundance of great alterations.
In a word, the world is all transformation, and life is
opinion.

4. If the faculty of understanding lies in common
amongst us all, then reason, the cause of it, must be
common too ; and that other reason too which governs
practice by commands and prohibitions. From
whence we may conclude, that mankind are under one
common law ; and if so, they must be fellow-citizens,
and belong to some body politic. From whence it
will follow, that the whole world is but one common-
wealth; for certainly there is no other society in
which mankind can be incorporated. Now this
common fund of understandings reason, and law is a5°

MEDITATIONS.

commodity of this same country, or which way do
mortals light on it ? For as the four distinctions in
iny body belong to some general head and species of
matter; for instance, the earthy part in me comes
from the division of earth; the watery belongs to
another element; the airy particles flow from a third
spring, and those of fire from one distinct from all
the former (for nothing can no more produce some-
thing, than something can sink into nothing) ; thus
it is evident that our understanding must proceed
from some source or other.

5.	Death and generation are both mysteries of
nature, and somewhat resemble each other ; for the
first does but dissolve those elements the latter had
combined. Now there is nothing that a man need be
ashamed of in all this ; nothing that is opposed to
his nature as a rational being, and to the design of
his. constitution.

6.	Practices and dispositions are generally of a
piece; such usage from such sort of men is in a
manner necessary. To be surprised at it, is in
effect to wonder that the fig-tree yields juice. Pray
consider that both you and your enemy are dropping
off, and that ere long your very memories will be
extinguished.

7.	Do not suppose you are hurt, and your complaint
ceases. Cease your complaint, and you are not
hurt. .	.

8.	That which does not make a man worse, does
not make his life worse ; and by consequence he has
no harm either within or without.MEDITATIONS.

5i

9.	The nature of the general good was obliged to
act in this manner.

10.	Take notice that all events turn out justly, and
that if you observe nicely, you will not only perceive a
connection between causes and effects, but a sovereign
distribution of justice, which presides in the adminis-
tration, and gives everything its due. Observe, then,
as you have begun, and let all your actions answer
the character of a good man—I mean a good man in
the strictness and notion of philosophy.

11.	If a man affronts you, do not accept his opinion
or think just as he would have you do. No, look
upon things as reality presents them.

12.	Be always provided with principles for these
two purposes :—First, To engage in nothing but what
reason dictates, what the sovereign and legislative
part of you shall suggest, for the interest of mankind.
Secondly, To be disposed to quit your opinion, and
alter your measures, when a friend shall give you
good grounds for so doing. But then the reasons of
changing your mind ought to be drawn from some
consideration regarding justice and public good, or
some such generous motive, and not because it pleases
your fancy, or promotes your reputation.

13.	Have you any sense in your head? Yes.
Why do you not make use of it then ? For if this
faculty does but do its part, I cannot see what more
you need wish for.

14.	At present your nature is distinct; but ere
long you will vanish into the whole. Or, rather, you
will be returned into that universal reason which gave
you your being.5*

MEDITATIONS.

15.	When frankincense is thrown upon the altar,
one grain usually falls before another ; but it makes
no difference.

16.	Do but return to the principles of wisdom, and
those who take you now for a monkey or a wild beast,
will make a god of you in a week's time.

17.	Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to
throw away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good
for something, while you live and it is in your power.

18.	What a great deal of time and ease that man
gains who lets his neighbour's words, thoughts, and
behaviour alone, confines his inspections to himself,
and takes care that his own actions are honest and
righteous. " Truly," as Agathon observes, " we should
not wander thus, but run straight to the goal with-
out rambling and impertinence."

19.	He that is so very solicitous about being
talked of when he is dead, and makes his memory his
inclination, does not consider that all who knew him
will quickly be gone. That his fame will grow
less in the next generation, and flag upon the
course ; and handed from one to another by men
who eagerly desire it themselves, and are quenched
themselves, it will be quenched at last; but granting
your memory and your men immortal, what is their
panegyric to you ? I do not say, when you are dead,
but if you were living, what would commendation
signify, unless for some reason of utility ? To con-
clude ; if you depend thus servilely upon the good
word of other people, you will be unworthy of your
nature.MEDITATIONS

S3

20.	Whatever is good has that quality from itself;
it is finished by its own nature, and commendation is
no part of it. Why, then, a thing is neither better
nor worse for being praised. This holds concerning
things which are called good in the common way of
speaking, as the products of nature and art; what do
you think, then, of that which deserves this character
in the strictest propriety ? It wants nothing foreign
to complete the idea any more than law, truth, good
nature, and sobriety. Do any of these virtues stand
in need of a good word, or are they the worse for a
bad one ? I hope an emerald will shine nevertheless
for a mans being silent about the worth of it.
Neither is there any necessity of praising gold, ivory,
purple, a lyre, a dagger, a little flower, or a shrub.

21.	If human souls have a being after death, which
way has the air made room for them from all eternity ?
Pray, how has the earth been capacious enough to re-
ceive all the bodies buried in it? The resolution of
this latter question will satisfy the former. For as a
corpse after some continuance by change and dissolu-
tion makes way for another, so when a man dies,
and the spirit is let loose into the air, it holds out for
some time, after which it is changed, diffused, and
kindled in flame, or else absorbed into the generative
principle of the universe. And thus they make room
for succession. And this may serve for an answer
upon the supposition of the souls surviving the body.
Besides, we are not only to consider the vast number
of bodies disposed of in the manner above mentioned;
but what an infinite number are every day devoured54

MEDITATIONS.

by mankind, and other living creatures, and as it were
buried in their bodies. And yet by the transmutation
of the food into blood, or into fire and air, there is
space enough. And now which way can a man in-
vestigate the truth ? Why, in order to this, he must
divide the thing in question into the causal and
material elements.

22.	Do not run riot; keep your intentions honest,
and your convictions sure.

23.	Whatever is agreeable to you, O Universe, is so
to me too. Nothing is early or late for me that is
seasonable for you. Everything is fruit for me which
your seasons bring, oh Nature. From you all things
proceed, subsist in you, and return to you. And if
the poet said, " Dear City of Cecrops," may we not
also say, " Dear City of God " ?

24.	"If you would live at your ease," says Demo-
critus, " manage but a few things." I think it had
been better if he had said, " Do nothing but what is
necessary ; and what becomes the reason of a social
being, and in the order too it prescribes it." For by
this rule a man has the double pleasure of making his
actions good and few into the bargain. For the
greater part of what we say and do, being unnecessary,
if this were but once retrenched, we should have both
more leisure and less disturbance. And therefore
before a man sets forward he should ask himself this
question, " Am I not upon the verge of something
unnecessary ?" Farther, we should apply this hint to
what we think, as well as to what we do. For imper-
tinence of thought draws unnecessary action after it.MEDITATIONS.

55

25.	Make an experiment upon yourself, and
examine your proficiency in a life of virtue. Try how
you can acquiesce in your fate, and whether your own
honesty and good nature will content you.

26.	Have you seen this side? Pray view the
other too. Never be disturbed, but let your purpose
be single. Is any man guilty of a fault ? It is to
himself then. Has any advantage happened to you ?
It is the bounty of fate. It was all of it preordained
you by the universal cause, and woven in your destiny
from the beginning. On the whole, life is but short,
therefore be just and prudent, and make the most of
it. And when you divert yourself, be always upon
your guard.

27.	The world is either the effect of contrivance or
chance ; if the latter, it is a world for all that, that is
to say, it is a regular and beautiful structure. Now
can any man discover symmetry in his own shape, and
yet take the universe for a heap of disorder ? I say
the universe, in which the very discord and confusion
of the elements settles into harmony and order.

28.	A black character, an effeminate character, an
obstinate character, brutish, savage, childish, silly,
false, scurrilous, mercenary, tyrannical.

29.	Not to know what is in the world, and not to
know what is done in the world, comes much to the
same thing, and a man is one way no less a stranger
than the other. He is no better than a deserter that
flies from public law. He is a blind man that shuts
the eyes of his understanding; and he is a beggar
that is not furnished at home, but wants the assistance56

MEDITATIONS.

of another. He that frets himself because things
do not happen just as he would have them, and secedes
and separates himself from the law of universal
nature, is but a sort of an ulcer of the world, never
considering that the same cause which produced the
displeasing accident made him too. And lastly, he
that is selfish, and cuts off his own soul from the
universal soul of all rational beings, is a kind of
voluntary outlaw.

30.	This philosopher has never a tunic to his coat,
the other never a book to read, and a third is half
naked, and yet they are none of them discouraged.
One learned man says, "I have no bread, yet I abide
by reason." Another, " I have no profit of my learn-
ing, yet I too abide by reason."

31.	Be satisfied with your business, and learn to
love what you were bred to; and as to the remainder
of your life, be entirely resigned, and let the gods do
their pleasure with your body and your soul. And
when this is done, be neither slave nor tyrant to
anybody.

32.	To begin somewhere, consider how the world
went in Vespasian's time; consider this, I say, and
you will find mankind just at the same pass they are
now: some marrying and some concerned in educa-
tion, some sick and some dying, some fighting and
some feasting, some drudging at the plough and some
upon the exchange; some too affable and some
overgrown with conceit; one full of jealousy and
the other of knavery. Here you might find a group
wishing for the death of their friends, and there aMEDITATIONS.

57

seditious club complaining of the times. Some were
lovers and some misers, some grasped at the consul-
ship and some at the sceptre. Well ! all is over
with that generation long since. Come forward then
to the reign of Trajan. Now here you will find
the same thing, but they are all gone too. Go on
with the contemplation, and carry it to other times
and countries, and here you will see abundance of
people very busy with their projects, who are quickly
resolved into their elements. More particularly re-
collect those within your Qwn memory, who have been
hurried on in these vain pursuits; how they have
overlooked the dignity of their nature, and neglected
to hold fast to that, and be satisfied with it. And
here you must remember to proportion your concern
to the w7eight and importance of each action. Thus,
if you refrain from trifling, you may part with amuse-
ments without regret.

33. Those words which were formerly current are
now become obsolete. Alas ! this is not all; fame
tarnishes in time too, and men grow out of fashion
as well as language. Those celebrated names of
Camillus, Caeso, Volesus, and Leonnatus are antiquated.
Those of jScipio, Cato, and Augustus will soon have the
same fortune, and those of Hadrian and Antoninus must
follow. All these things are transitory, and quickly
become as a tale that is told, and are swallowed up
in oblivion. I speak this of those who have been the
wonder of their age and who shone with unusual lustre.
But as for the rest, they are no sooner dead than for-
gotten. And after all, what does fame everlasting58

MEDITATIONS.

mean ? Mere vanity. What then is it that is worth
one's while to be concerned for ? Why nothing but
this : to bear an honest mind, to act for the good of
society, to deceive nobody, to welcome everything
that happens as necessary and familiar, and flowing
from a like source.

34.	Put yourself frankly into the hands of fate,
and let her spin you out what fortune she pleases.

35.	He that does a memorable action, and those
that report it, are all but short-lived things.

36.	Accustom yourself to consider that whatever
is produced, is produced by alteration; that nature
loves nothing so much as changing existing things,
and producing new ones like them. For that which
exists at present is, as it were, the seed of what shall
spring from it. But if you take seed in the common
notion, and confine it to the field or the womb, you
have a dull fancy.

37.	You are just taking leave of the world, and
yet you have not done with unnecessary desires. Are
you not yet above disturbance and suspicion, and fully
convinced that nothing without can hurt you ? You
have not yet learned to be friends with everybody,
and that to be an honest man is the only way to be a
wise one.

38.	To understand the true quality of people, you
must look into their minds, and examine their pursuits
and aversions.

39.	Your pain cannot originate in another man's
mind, nor in any change or transformation of your
corporeal covering. Where then does it lie ? Why,MEDITATIONS.

59

in that part of you that forms judgments about things
evil. Do not imagine you are hurt, and you are
impregnable. Suppose then your flesh was hacked,
burnt, pu trifled, or mortified, yet let that part that
judges keep quiet; that is, do not conclude that what
is common to good or ill men can be good or evil in
itself. For that which may be everybody's lot, must
in its own nature be indifferent.

40.	You ought frequently to consider that the
world is an animal, consisting of one soul and body,
that an universal sense runs through the whole mass
of matter. You should likewise reflect how nature
acts by a joint effort, and how everything contributes
to the being of everything: and lastly, what con-
nection and subordination there is between causes and
effects.

41.	Epictetus will tell you that you are a living
soul, that drags a corpse about with her.

42.	Things that subsist upon change, and owe their
being to instability, can neither be considerably good
nor bad.

43.	Time is like a rapid river, and a rushing tor-
rent of all that comes and passes. A thing is no
sooner well come, but it is past; and then another is
borne after it, and this too will be carried away.

44.	Whatever happens is as common and well
known as a rose in the spring, or an apple in autumn.
Of this kind are diseases and death, calumny and
trickery, and every other thing which raises and de-
presses the spirits of unthinking people.

45.	Antecedents and consequents are dexterously

2626o

MEDITATIONS.

tied together in the world. Things are not carelessly
thrown on a heap, and joined more by number than
nature, but, as it were, rationally connected with each
other. A.nd as the things that exist are harmoniously
connected, so those that become exhibit no mere suc-
cession, but an harmonious relationship.

46.	Do not forget the saying of Heraclitus, "That
the earth dies into water, water into air, air into fire,
and so backward." Remember likewise the story of
the man that travelled on without knowing to what
place the way would bring him; and that many
people quarrel with that reason that governs the world,
and with which they are daily conversant, and seem
perfectly unacquainted with those things which occur
daily. Farther, we must not nod over business—for
even in sleep we seem to act,—neither are we to be
wholly governed by tradition; for that is like
children, who believe anything their parents tell them.

47.	Put the case, some god should acquaint you
you were to die to-morrow, or next day at farthest.
Under this warning, you would be a very poor wretch
if you should strongly solicit for the longest time.
For, alas \ how inconsiderable is the difference ? In
like manner, if you would reason right, you would
not be much concerned whether your life was to end
to-morrow or a thousand years hence.

48.	Consider how many physicians are dead that
used to knit their brows over their patients; how
many astrologers who thought themselves great men
by foretelling the death of others; how many philo-
sophers have gone the way of all flesh, after all theirMEDITATIONS.

61

learned disputes about dying and immortality; how
many warriors, who had knocked so many men's
brains out; how many tyrants, who managed the
power of life and death with as much insolence, as
if themselves had been immortal; how many cities,
if I may say so, have given up the ghost: for in-
stance, Helice in Greece, Pompeii and Herculaneum
in Italy ; not to mention many besides. Do but recol-
lect your acquaintance, and here you will find one
man closing another's eyes, then he himself is laid out,
and this one by another. And all within a small
compass of time. In short, mankind are poor trans-
itory things ! They are one day in the rudiments
of life, and almost the next turned to mummy or
ashes. • Your way is therefore to manage this minute
in harmony with nature, and part with it cheerfully;
and like a ripe olive when you drop, be sure to speak
well of the mother that bare you, and make your
acknowledgments to the tree that produced you.

49. Stand firm like a rock, against which though
the waves batter, yet it stands unmoved, and they fall
to rest at last. How unfortunate has this accident
made me, cries such an one ! Not at all! He should
rather say, What a happy mortal am I for being un-
concerned upon this occasion! for being neither
crushed by the present, nor afraid of what is to come.
The thing might have happened to any other man as
well as myself; but for all that, everybody would
not have been so easy under it. Why then is not
the good fortune of the bearing more considerable
than the ill fortune of the happening ? Or, to speak62

MEDITATIONS.

properly, how can that be a misfortune to a man
which does not frustrate his nature ? And how can
that cross upon a mans nature which is not opposed
to the intention and design of it? Now what that
intention is, you know. To apply this reasoning :
does the present accident hinder your being just,
magnanimous, temperate and modest, judicious, truth-
ful, reverent, and unservile ? Now, when a man is
furnished with these good qualities, his nature has
what she would have. Farther, when anything grows
troublesome, recollect this maxim: This accident is
not a misfortune, but bearing it well turns it to an
advantage.

50.	To consider those old people that resigned life
so unwillingly, is a common yet not unserviceable
aid in facing death. For what are these long-
lived mortals more than those that went off in their
infancy ? What has become of Cadicianus, Fabius,
Julianus. and Lepidus, and others like them? They
buried a great many, but came at last to it themselves.
Upon the whole, the difference between long and short
life is insignificant, especially if you consider the acci-
dents, the company, and the body you must go through
with. Therefore do not let a thought of this kind
affect you. Do but look upon the astonishing notion
of time and eternity ; what an immense deal has run
out already, and how infinite it is still in the future.
Do but consider this, and you will find three days
and three ages of life come much to the same
thing.

51.	Always go the shortest way to work. Now,MEDITATIONS.

63

tlie nearest road to your business is the road of nature.
Let it be your constant method, then, to be sound in
word and in deed, and by this means you need not
grow fatigued, you need not quarrel, flourish, and dis-
semble like other people.^7M^WWWWWWWWW^ ^ ' V Mwffwww7?7?w

BOOK V.

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.BOOK F.

1. E'WSM|)9|HEN you find an unwillingness to rise
early in the morning, make this short
speech to yourself: I am getting up
now to do the business of a man ; and
am I out of humour for going about
that I was made for, and for the sake of which I was
sent into the world ? Was I then designed for nothing
but to doze and keep warm beneath the counterpane ?
Well ! but this is a comfortable way of living. Grant-
ing that : were you born only for pleasure ? were you
never to do anything ? Is not action the end of your
being ? Pray look upon the plants and birds, the
ants, spiders, and bees, and you will see them all ex-
erting their nature, and busy in their station. Pray,
shall not a man act like a man ? Why do you not
rouse your faculties, and hasten to act according to
your nature ? For all that, there is no living without
rest. True; but nature has fixed a limit to eating
and drinking, and here, too, you generally exceed
bounds, and go beyond what is sufficient. Whereas
in business you are apt to do less than lies in your
power. In earnest, you have no true love for your-
self. If you had, you would love your nature and68

MEDITATIONS.

honour her wishes. Now, when a man loves his trade,
how he will sweat and drudge to perform to perfection.
But you honour your nature less than a turner does
the art of turning, a dancing-master the art of danc-
ing. And as for wealth and popularity, how eagerly
are they pursued by the vain and the covetous ? All
these people when they greatly desire anything, seek
to attain it, might and main, and will scarcely allow
themselves necessary refreshment. And now, can you
think the exercise of social duties less valuable than
these petty amusements, and worth less exertion ?

2.	What an easy matter it is to stem the current
of your imagination, to discharge a troublesome or
improper thought, and at once return to a state of
calm.

3.	Do not think any word or action beneath you
which is in accordance with nature ; and never be
misled by the apprehension of censure or reproach.
Where honesty prompts you to say or do anything,
never hold it beneath you. Other people have their
own guiding principles and impulses ; mind them not.
Go on in the straight road, pursue your own and the
common interest. For to speak strictly, these two are
approached by one and the same road.

4.	I will march on in the path of nature till my
legs sink under me, and then I shall be at rest, and
expire into that air which has given me my daily
breath; fall upon that earth which has maintained
my parents, helped my nurse to her milk, and supplied
me with meat and drink for so many years; and
though its favours have been often abused, still suffers
me to tread upon it.MEDITATIONS.

69

5.	Wit and smartness are not your talent.
What then ? There are a great many other good
qualities in which you cannot pretend nature has
failed you; improve them as far as you can, and let
us have that which is perfectly in your power. You
may if you please behave yourself like a man of
gravity and good faith, endure hardship, and despise
pleasure; want but a few things, and complain of
nothing; you may be gentle and magnanimous if you
please, and have nothing of luxury or trifling in your
disposition. Do not you see how much you may do
if you have a mind to it, where the plea of incapacity
is out of place ? And yet you do not push forward
as you should do. What then ! Does any natural
defect force you to grumble, to lay your faults upon
your constitution, to be stingy or a flatterer, to seek
after popularity, boast, and be disturbed in mind ?
Can you say you are so weakly made as to be driven
to these practices ? The immortal gods know the
contrary. No, you might have stood clear of all this
long since; and after all, if your parts were some-
what slow, and your understanding heavy, your way
had been to have taken the more pains with yourself,
and not to have lain fallow and remained content
with your own dulness.

6.	Some men, when they do you a kindness, at
once demand the payment of gratitude from you;
others are more modest than this. However, they
remember the favour, and look upon you in a manner
as their debtor. A third sort shall scarce know what
they have done. These are much like a vine,70

MEDITATIONS.

which is satisfied by being fruitful in its kind, and
bears a bunch of grapes without expecting any thanks
for it. A fleet horse or greyhound does not make a
noise when they have done well, nor a bee neither
when she has made a little honey. And thus a man
that has done a kindness never proclaims it, but does
another as soon as he can, just like a vine that bears
again the next season. Now wre should imitate those
who are so obliging, as hardly to reflect on their
beneficence. But you will say, a man ought not to
act without reflection. It is surely natural for one
that is generous to be conscious of his generosity; yes,
truly, and to desire the person obliged should be
sensible of it too. What you say is in a great measure
true. But if you mistake my meaning, you will
become one of those untoward benefactors I first
mentioned; indeed, they too are misled by the plausi-
bility of their reasoning. But if you will view the
matter' in its true colours, never fear that you will
neglect any social act. .

7.	A prayer of the Athenians, "Send down, oh!
send down rain, dear Zeus, on the ploughed fields and
plains of the Athenians." Of a truth, we should not
pray at all, or else in this simple and noble fashion.

8.	iEsculapius, as we commonly say,, has pre-
scribed such an one riding out, walking m his slip-
pers, or a cold bath. Now, with much the same
meaning we may affirm that the nature of the uni-
verse has ordered this or that person a disease, loss of
limbs or estate, or some such other calamity. For as
in the first case> the word "prescribed" signifies a direc-MEDITATIONS.

n

tion for the health of the patient, so in the latter it
means an application fit for his constitution and fate.
And thus these harsher events may be counted fit for us,
as stone properly joined together in a wall or pyramid
is said by the workmen to fit in. Indeed, the whole of
nature consists of harmony. For as the world has its
form and entireness from that universal matter of
which it consists, so the character of fate results from
the quality and concurrence of all other causes con-
tained in it. The common people understand this
notion very well. Their way of speaking is : ■" This
happened to this man, therefore it was sent him and
appointed for him." Let us then comply with our
doom, as we do with the prescriptions of iEsculapius.
These doses are often unpalatable and rugged, and
yet the desire of health makes them go merrily down.
Now that which nature esteems profit and convenience,
should seem to you like your own health. And,
therefore, when anything adverse happens, take it
quietly to you ; it is for the health of the universe, and
the prosperity of Zeus himself. Depend upon it,
this had-qiever been sent you, if the universe had not
found its advantage in it. Neither does nature act
at random, or order anything which is not suitable to
those beings under her government. You have two
reasons, therefore, to be contented with your condition.
First, because it has befallen you, and was appointed
you from the beginning by the highest and most
ancient causes. Secondly, The lot even of individuals
is in a manner destined for the interest of him that
governs the world. It perfects his nature in some72

MEDITATIONS.

measure, and causes and continues his happiness; for
it holds in causes, no less than in parts of a whole
that if you lop off any part of the continuity and con-
nection, you maim the whole. Now, if you are dis-
pleased with your circumstances, you dismember
nature, and pull the world in pieces, as much as lies
in your power.

9.	Be not uneasy, discouraged, or out of humour,
because practice falls short of precept in some parti-
culars. If you happen to be beaten, come on again,
and be glad if most of your acts are worthy of human
nature. Love that to which you return, and do not go
like a schoolboy to his master, with an ill will. No,
you must apply to philosophy with inclination, as
those who have sore eyes make use of a good receipt.
And when you are thus disposed, you will easily
acquiesce in reason, and make your abode with her.
And here you are to remember that philosophy will
put you upon nothing but what your nature wishes
and calls for. But you are crossing the inclinations of
your nature. Is not this the most agreeable ? And
does not pleasure often deceive us under this pretence ?
Now think a little, and tell me what is there more
delightful than greatness of mind, and generosity,
simplicity, equanimity, and piety ? And once more,
what can be more delightful than prudence ? than to
be furnished with that faculty of knowledge and un-
derstanding which keeps a man from making a false
step, and helps him to good fortune in all his
business ?

10.	Things are so much perplexed and in the darkMEDITATIONS.

73

that several great philosophers looked upon them
as altogether unintelligible, and that there was no
certain test for the discovery of truth. Even the
Stoics agree that certainty is very hard to come at;
that our assent is worth little, for where is infallibility
to be found ? However, our ignorance is not so great
but that we may discover how transitory and insig-
nificant all things are, and that they may fall into the
worst hands. Farther, consider the temper of those
you converse with, and you will find the best will
hardly do; not to mention that a man has wprk
enough to make himself tolerable to himself. And
since we have nothing but darkness and dirt to grasp
at, since time- and matter, motion and mortals are in
perpetual flux; for these reasons, I say, I cannot
imagine what there is here worth the minding or being
eager about. On the other hand, a man ought to
keep up his spirits, for it will not be long before his
discharge comes. In the meantime, he must not fret
at the delay, but satisfy himself with these two con-
siderations : the one is, that nothing will befall me
but what is in accordance with the nature of the
universe; the other, that I need do nothing contrary
to my mind and divinity, since no one can force me to
act thus, or force me to act against my own judgment.

11. What use do I put my soul to? It is a
serviceable question this, and should frequently be put
to oneself. How does my ruling part stand affected?
And whose soul have I now ? That of a child, or a
young man, or a feeble woman, or of a tyrant, of
cattle or wild beasts.74

MEDITATIONS.

12.	What sort of good things those are, which are
commonly so reckoned, you may learn from hence.
For the purpose, if you reflect upon those qualities
which are intrinsically valuable, such as prudence,
temperance, justice, and fortitude, you will not find
it possible afterwards to give ear to those, for this is
not suitable to a good man. But if you have once
conceived as good what appears so to the many, you
will hear and gladly accept as suitable the saying of
the comic writer. Thus we see the generality are
struck with the distinction, otherwise they would not
dislike the liberty in one case, and allow it in the
other, holding it a suitable and witty jest when it is
directed against wealth, and tbe means that further
luxury and ambition. Now, what significancy and
excellence can there be in these things, to which may
be applied the poet's jest, that excess of luxury leaves
no room for comfort ?

13.	My being consists of matter and form, that is,
of soul and body; annihilation will reach neither of
them, for they were never produced out of nothing.
The consequence is, that every part of me will serve
to make something in the world ; and this again will
change into another part through an infinite succession
of change. This constant method of alteration gave
me my being, and my father before me, and so on to
eternity backward : for I think I may speak thus,
even though the world be confined within certain
determinate periods.

14.	Reason and the reasoning faculty need no
foreign assistance, but are sufficient for their own pur-MED IT A TIONS.

15

poses. They move within themselves, and make
directly for the point in view. Wherefore, acts in
accordance with them are called right acts, for they
lead along the right road.

15.	Those things do not belong to a man which
do not belong to him as a man. For they are not
included in the idea; they are not required of us as
men; human nature does not promise them, neither
is it perfected by them. From whence it follows
that they can neither constitute the chief end of man,
nor strictly contribute towards it. Farther, if these
things were any real additions, how comes the con-
tempt of them, and the being easy without them, to
be so great a commendation ? To balk an advantage
would be folly if these things were truly good. But
the case stands otherwise; for we know that self-
denial and indifference about these things, and patience
when they are taken away, is the character of a good
man.

16.	Your manners will depend very much upon
the quality of what you frequently think on; for the
soul is as it were tinged with the colour and com-
plexion of thought. Be sure therefore to work in such
maxims as these. Wherever a man lives, he may live
well; by consequence, a life of virtue and that of a
courtier are not inconsistent. Again, that which a
thing is made for, is that towards which it is carried,
and in that which it is naturally carried to, lies the end
of the act. Now where the end of a thing is, there the
advantage and improvement of it is certainly lodged.
Now the happiness of mankind lies in society, since

26376

MEDITATIONS.

that we were made for this purpose, I have proved
already. For is it not plain that the lower order of
beings are made for the higher, and the higher for the
service of each other ? Now as those with souls are
superior to the soulless, so amongst all creatures with
souls the rational are the best.

17.	To expect an impossibility is madness. Now
it is impossible for ill men not to do ill.

18.	There is nothing happens to any person but
what was in his power to go through With. Some
people have had very severe trials, and yet either by
having less understanding, or more pride than ordinary,
have charged bravely through the misfortune, and
come off without a scratch. Now it is a disgrace to
let ignorance and vanity do more with us than
prudence and principle.

19.	Outward objects cannot take hold of the soul,
nor force their passage into her, nor set any of her
wheels going. No, the impression comes from her-
self, and it is her own motions which affect her. As
for the contingencies of fortune, they are either great
or little, according to the opinion she has of her own
strength.

20.	When we consider we are bound to be service-
able to mankind, and bear with their faults, we shall
perceive there is a common tie of nature and relation
between us. But when we see people grow trouble-
some and disturb us in our business, here we are to
look upon men as indifferent sort of things, no less
than sun or wind, or a wild beast. It is true they
may hinder me in the executing part, but all this is ofMEDITATIONS,

77

no moment while, my inclinations and good intent
stand firm, for these can act according to the condi-
tion and change. For the mind converts and changes
every hindrance into help. And thus it is probable I
may gain by the apposition, and let the obstacle help
me on my road.

21.	Among all things in the universe, direct your
worship to the greatest. And which is that ? It is
that being which manages and governs all the rest.
And as you worship the best thing in nature, so you
are to pay a proportionate regard to the best thing
in yourself, and this is akin to the Deity. The quality
of its functions will discover it. It is the reigning
power within you, which disposes of your actions and
your fortune.

22.	That which does not hurt the city or body
politic cannot hurt the citizen. Therefore when you
think you are ill-used, let this reflection be your
remedy: If the community is not the worse for it,
neither am I. But if the community is injured, your
business is to show the person concerned his fault,
but not to grow passionate about it.

23.	Reflect frequently upon the instability of
things, and how very fast the scenes of nature are
shifted. Matter is in a perpetual flux. Change is
always and everywhere at work; it strikes through
causes and effects, and leaves nothing fixed and
permanent. And then how very near us stand the
two vast gulfs of time, the past and the future, in
which all things disappear. Now is not that man a
blockhead that lets these momentary things make him78

MEDITATIONS.

proud, or uneasy, or sorrowful, as though they could
trouble him for long ?

24.	Remember what an atom your person is in
respect of the universe, what a minute of immeasurable
time falls to your share, and what a small concern you
are in the empire of fate !

25.	A man misbehaves himself towards me ; what is
that to me ? The action is his, and the disposition
that led him to it is his, and therefore let him look
to it. As for me, I am in the condition the universal
nature assigns me, and am doing what my own nature
assigns me.

26.	Whether the motions of your body are rugged
or agreeable, do not let your ruling and governing
principle be concerned with them; confine the im-
pressions to their respective quarters, and let your
mind keep her distance, and not mingle with them.
It is true, that which results from the laws of the
union through the force of sympathy or constitution,
must be felt, for nature will have its course. But
though the sensation cannot be stopped, it must not
be overrated, nor strained to the quality of good or
evil.

27.	We ought to live with the gods. This is done
by him who always exhibits a soul contented with the
appointments of Providence, and obeys the orders of
that divinity which is his deputy and ruler, and the
offspring of God. Now this divine authority is neither
more nor less than that soul and reason which every
man possesses.

28.	Are you angry at a rank smell or an ill-scentedMEDITATIONS.

79

breath ? What good will this anger do you ? But
you will say, the man has reason, and can, if he takes
pains, discover wherein he offends. I wish you joy of
your discovery. Well, if you think mankind so full
of reason, pray make use of your own. Argue the
case with the faulty person, and show him his error.
If your advice prevails, he is what you would have
him ; and then there is no need of being angry.

29.	You may live now if you please, as you would
choose to do if you were near dying. But suppose
people will not let you, why then, give life the slip,
but by no means make a misfortune of it. If the
room smokes I leave it, and there is an end, for why
should one be concerned at the matter ? However,
as long as nothing of this kind drives me out, I stay,
behave as a free man, and do what I have a mind to ;
but then I have a mind to nothing but what I am led
to by reason and public interest.

30.	The soul of the universe is of a social disposi-
tion. For this reason it has made the lower part of the
creation for the sake of the higher. And as for those
beings of the higher rank, it has bound them to each
other. You see how admirably things are ranged and
subordinated according to the dignity of their kind,
and cemented together in mutual harmony.

31.	Recollect how you have behaved yourself all
along towards the gods, your parents, brothers, wife,
and children; towards your instructors, governors,
friends, acquaintance, and servants. Whether men can
say "of you, "He never wronged a man in word or
deed." Recollect how much business you have beenSo

MEDITATIONS.

engaged in, and what you have had strength to
endure; that now your task is done, and the his-
tory of your life finished. Remember likewise,
how many fair sights you have seen, how much of
pleasure and pain you have despised, how much
glory disregarded, and how often you have done good
against evil.

32.	Why should skill and knowledge be disturbed, at
the censures of ignorance ? But who are these knowing
and skilful people ? Why, those who are acquainted
with the original cause and end of all things, with
that reason that pervades the mass of matter, renews
the world at certain periods, and governs it through all
the lengths of time.

33.	You will quickly be reduced to ashes and
skeleton. And it may be you will have a name left
you, and it may be not. And what is a name ?
Nothing but sound and echo. And then for those
things which are so much valued in the world, they
are miserably empty and rotten, and insignificant.
It is like puppies snarling for a bone ; and the con-
tests of little children sometimes transported, and then
again all in tears about a plaything. And as for
modesty and good faith, truth and justice, they have
fled " up to Olympus from the wide-spread earth."
And now, what is it that can keep you here ? For if
the objects of sense are floating and changeable, and
the organs misty, and apt to be imposed on ; if the
soul is but a vapour drawn off the blood, and the
applause of little mortals insignificant; if the case
stands thus, why not have patience till, you are eitherMEDITATIONS.

81

extinguished or removed ? And till that time comes,
what is to be done ? The answer is easy : to worship
the gods, and speak honourably of them; to be bene-
ficial to mankind; to bear with them or avoid them ;
and lastly, to remember that whatever lies without
the compass of your own flesh and breath is nothing
of yours, nor in your powTer.

34.	You may be always successful if'you do but
set out well, and let your thoughts and practice pro-
ceed upon right method. There are two properties
and privileges common to the soul of God and man
and all rational beings. The one is, not to be hindered
by anything external; the other, to make virtuous in-
tention and action their supreme satisfaction, and not
so much as to desire anything farther.

35.	If this accident is no fault of mine, nor a con-
sequence of it; and besides, if the community is
never the worse for it, why am I concerned ? Now,
how is the community injured ?

36.	Do not suffer a sudden impression to overbear
your judgment. Let those that want your assistance
have it, as far as the case requires. But if they are in-
jured in matters indifferent, do not consider it any real
damage, for that is a bad habit. But as the old man,
when he went away, asked back his foster-child's top,
remembering that it was a top, so do in this case also.
When you are haranguing in the rostra, a little of this
to yourself would not be amiss :—Hark you, friend,
have you forgotten what this glitter of honour really is ?
I grant it is but tinsel, but for all that it is extremely
valued. And because other people are fools, must82

MEDITATIONS,

you be so too ? I can at once become happy any-
where, for he is happy who has found for himself
a happy lot. In a word, happiness lies all in the
functions of reason, in warrantable desires and virtuous
practice.BOOK VI.BOOK VI.

j|S the substance of the universe is pliable
and obedient, so that sovereign reason
which gives laws to it has neither
motive nor inclination to bring an evil
upon anything. Xthas no evil in its
nature, nor does evil, but forms and governs all things,
and hurts nothing.

2.	Do but your duty, and do not trouble yourself,
whether it is in the cold, or by a good fire, whether
you are overwatched, or satisfied with sleep, whether
you have a good word or a bad one, whether you are
dying, or doing anything else, for this last must be
done at one time or other. It is part of the business
of life to leave it, and here too it suffices to manage
the present well.

3.	Look thoroughly into matters, and let not the
peculiar quality or intrinsic value of anything escape
you.

4.	The present appearance of things will quickly
undergo a change, and be either exhaled into common
matter or dispersed.

5.	That intelligent Being that governs the universe
has perfect views of His own nature and acts, and of
the matter on which He acts.86

MEDITATIONS.

6. The best way of revenge is not to imitate the ;
injury.

* 7. Be always doing something serviceable to man-
kind, and let this constant generosity be your only
pleasure, not forgetting in the meantime a due regard
to the Deity.

8.	The governing part of the mind arouses and
alters itself; gives what air it pleases to its own like-
ness, and to all the accidents and circumstances
without.

9.	The particular effects in the world are all
wrought by one intelligent nature. This universal
cause has no foreign assistant, no interloping principle,
either without or within it.

10.	The world is either a medley of atoms that
now intermingle and now are scattered apart, or else
it is a unity under the laws of order and providence.
If the first, what should I stay for, where nature is in
such a chaos, and things are so blindly jumbled to-
gether? Why do I care for anything else than to
return to the element of earth as soon as may be ?
Why should I give myself any trouble ? Let me do
what I will, my elements will be scattered. But if
there is a Providence, then I adore the great Governor
of the world, and am easy and of good cheer in the
prospect of protection.

11.	When you happen to be ruffled a little by any
untoward accident, retire immediately into your rea-
son, and do not move out of tune any further than
needs must; for the sooner you return to harmony,
the more you will get it in your own power.MEDITATIONS.

87

12.	Put the case, you had a step-mother and a
mother at the same time; though you would pay a
regard to the first, your converse, I conceive, would be
mostly with the latter. Let the court and philosophy
represent these two relations to you ; apply frequently
to this last, and seek your refreshment with her.
For it is a life of virtue and philosophy which makes
life at court tolerable to you, and you yourself toler-
able.

13.	When we have meat before us, or other dishes,
we receive the impression that this is but the carcass
of a fish, this of a fowl, and the other of a pig. And
then for this bottle of Falernian, what is it but a little
moisture squeezed out of the berry of a grape ? And
your purple is nothing but sheep's hair twisted to-
gether, and stained in the gore of a little shell-fish.
And if we were to proceed to some other satisfactions
of sense, we should find them but coarse in their
causes and constitution; and as these notions strike
through the surface, press into the heart of things, and
shew them in their natural colours, so we should carry
them on, and apply them to all the pageantry of life.
And where things appear most plausible, be sure to
bring them to the test, and look at their worthless-
ness, and strip them of all the words by which they
were exalted. Without this care, figure and appear-
ance are great cheats ; and when you think your
fancy is best employed, you will be most fooled.
Kemember what Crates said even of Xenocrates.

14.	The inclination of the generality may be re-
duced to these heads : Some people are little enough88

MEDITATIONS.

to be attracted by things in the state of bare exist-
ence or vegetation, as with stones, wood, figs, grapes,
olives, arid such like. Others, who are somewhat
more reasonable in their fancy, must have life to charm
them; and these, it may be, are in love with their
flocks and herds. A third sort, better furnished than
the former, admire nothing beneath a rational soul,
and this not as a whole, but as it were they pride
themselves in slaves, possessed of some skill, parts,
or industry. But he that values a rational creature
that is social and universal runs into none of the follies
above mentioned, but makes it his chief business to
look to his own soul, and keep it in rational and
social movements, and to assist all mankind in the
public interest.

15. Some things are pressing into being, and others
are hastening out of it, and that which was entire just
now, is part of it spent already. The world is renewed
by this change and flux, no less than the infinite
series of ages by the perpetual succession of time.
Now, who would set a value upon things hurried thus
fast down the stream, on which it is impossible to
stop ? Such a passion is much like falling in love with
a sparrow flying over your head. You have, as it were,
but one glimpse of her, and she is out of sight. Life is
but a sort of exhalation of the blood, and a little breath-
ing in of air. Now, to inhale and exhale your breath
for the support of life, which you do every moment, and
expire your last, when you lose the whole power of
breathing which you received at your birth yesterday
or the day before, is much the same action.MEDITATIONS.

89

16. Neither the perspiration of plants, nor the
breath of animals, nor the impressions of sensation,
nor the puppet-motions of passions are privileges of
any great value. To which we may add the instinct
of crowding into herds, together with the functions of
nutrition, this latter being not unlike a separating
of our food. What then is it that you count worth
your esteem ? Applause ? Not at all. Why, then,
you must not value the applause of tongues, for
the commendation of the multitude is nothing else.
Well, I find fame and glory will not tempt you; what,
then, is there behind worth the having ? To govern
your motions, and make use of your being according
to the intentions of nature. This is the design of
arts and improvement in other cases, every artificer
and profession endeavouring to make the thing fit to
answer the end for which it was intended. This, for
instance, is the design of vine-dressers and those that
manage horses and dogs. And learning and education
have all one object in view. It is agreed then, the
main point lies here. Compass but this, and let all
things else alone. Must your inclinations always run
riot, and will you never become free, self-contained,
and passionless ? This ^ temper will let loose abun-
dance of uneasy passions upon you. It will make you
grow envious, full of jealousy and suspicion, and apt
to overreach those who are possessed of something you
have a mind to. And when strong desires are un-
satisfied, you will find yourself mightily disturbed.
And this will make you murmur and grow mutinous
against the gods. But if you come once to pay a due90

MEDITATIONS.

regard and reverence to your own reason, you will be
pleased with yourself, serviceable to society, and com-
pliant with the gods. That is, you will be entirely
satisfied with their rule and administration.

17.	The elements either press upwards, or fall
downwards, or else run round in a circle. But virtue
has none of these motions ; she is of a nobler kind.
Her progress in regular thoughts is somewhat unintel-
ligible, but always prosperous.

18.	What a strange humour there is amongst some
people. They do not care to afford a good word to
their contemporaries, and yet are very desirous of
being praised by posterity, that is, by those they
never saw, nor ever will have the least acquaintance
with. Now this is almost as absurd as it would be
to be disturbed because you were not commended by
the generations that lived before you.

19.	Because you find a thing very difficult, do not
at once conclude that no man can master it. But
whatever you observe proper and practicable by an-
other, believe likewise within your own power.

^ 20. If an antagonist in the circus tears our flesh
with his nails, or tilts against us with his head, and
wounds us, we do not cry out foul play, nor are we
offended at the rough usage, nor suspect him after-
wards as a dangerous person in conversation. It is
true, when we are at the exercise we guard and parry,
but all this is done without raising ill blood, or look-
ing upon the man as an enemy. Let us act in this
way in the other instances of life. When we receive
a blow, let us disregard it, thinking we are but at aMEDITATIONS.

9i

trial of skill, for, as I said before, it is in our power
to retire without feeling malice and ill-will.

21.	If any one can convince me of an error, I shall
be very glad to change my opinion, for truth is my
business, and nobody was ever yet hurt by it. No ;
he that continues in ignorance and mistake, it is be
that receives the mischief.

22.	I do my duty, that is enough. As for other
things, I shall never be disturbed about them. For
they are either without life or without reason, or they
have lost their way and cannot find it.

23.	As for brute animals, and things undignified
with reason, use them generously and nobly, as beings
that have reason should treat those that have none.
But treat men, since they have reason, as members of
the same society. And in all your affairs invoke the
gods for their assistance. As for the time you are to
continue this, never trouble yourself whether it is long
or short. For three hours of life thus well spent are
sufficient.

24.	Alexander the Great and his groom, when
dead, were both upon the same level, and ran the
same chance of being scattered into atoms or absorbed
in the soul of the universe.

25.	What abundance of motions there are in the
body, what abundance of thoughts in the mind at the
same time ! He that considers this will not wonder
so much that infinitely more productions, nay rather,
all that are, should exist together in that great whole
we call the universe.

26.	Suppose you were asked to spell Antoninus's

26492

MEDITATIONS,

name, would you sound every letter with emphasis in
the company's ears \ Or would you return their
passion if they were angry ? I conceive you would
rather go mildly to work, and give them the letters
and syllables as they stand, without noise. Apply
this to greater instances, and remember that all duties
in morality have a determinate number of parts
to render them complete. These must be observed,
and performed in order; but it must be done smoothly,
without growing provoked upon meeting with pro-
vocation.

27.	You hold it cruel to balk people's fancies,
and not give them leave to pursue what they reckon
their interest. Yet with this you are chargeable in
some measure yourself when you are angry with those
that do amiss; for they are carried towards what they
esteem their own interest and convenience. But that
you will say is their mistake. Then it is your part
to lead them out of it, and to show them their error
without resentment.

28.	What is death? It is a resting from the
vibrations of sensation, and the swayings of desire, a
stop upon the rambling of thought, and a release from
the drudgery about your body.

29.	It would be a shame if your mind should
falter and give in before your body.

30.	Have a care you have not too much of a Caesar
in you, and that you are not dyed with that dye.
This is easily learned, therefore guard against the
infection. Be candid, virtuous, sincere, and modestly
grave. Let justice and piety have their share in yourMEDITA TIONS.

93

character; let yonr temper be remarkable for mild-
ness and affection, and be always enterprising and
vigorous in your business. And, in short, strive to be
just such a man as virtue and philosophy meant you
to be. Worship the gods and protect mankind. This
life is short, and all the advantage you can get by it
is a pious disposition and unselfish acts. Do every-
thing as a disciple of Antoninus ; imitate him in the
vigour and constancy of his good conduct, in the
equality, sweetness, and piety of his temper, the
serenity of his aspect, his contempt of fame, and the
generous ambition he had to be perfectly master of
his business. Further, it was his way to dismiss
nothing till he had looked through it, and viewed it
on all sides; to bear unreasonable remonstrances
without making a return; never to be in a hurry;
to be backward in giving encouragement to informers.
He was a great judge of men and manners, but
of no reprimanding humour; not at all apt to be
frighted; not too suspicious, nor like a sophist.
Satisfied with a little, as one might easily perceive by
his palace, his furniture, his habit, his eating, and his
attendance. His disposition was patient, and fatigueing
his delight. He was temperate in his diet. He was
firm in his friendship, and steady and agreeable in the
manner of showing it. He gave his courtiers all the
freedom imaginable to contradict him, and was pleased
with the proposal of a better expedient than his own.
To conclude, he was a religious prince, but without
superstition. Pray imitate these good qualities of his,
that you may have the satisfaction of them at your
last hour as he had.94

MEDITATIONS.

31.	House and recollect yourself, and you will
perceive your trouble lay only in a scene of imagina-
tion. And when you are well awake, look upon
these realities as you did upon those visions.

32.	My person consists of soul and a little body.
To this latter all things are morally indifferent, the
body being in no condition to make a distinction of
this kind. And as to my mind, there is nothing can
affect her, her own actions excepted; now these are
all within her power, and of all her actions she is only
concerned with the present, for what is past or to
come, signifies as much as nothing, and is at present
indifferent.

33.	As long as the hands and feet do the work
they were made for, they move naturally, and with
ease. Thus while a man performs the functions of a
man, and keeps true to his condition, he feels no more
weight than what nature lays upon him. Now that
which is not beside the intentions of nature can never
be a real misfortune.

34.	What abundance of sensual satisfaction have
thieves, parricides, and usurpers been possessed of?

35.	Do not you observe among your artificers,
though they bear the contradiction and impertinence
of the unskilful, yet they will not comply so far as to
be talked out of their knowledge, or work against
the rules of their trade ? And is it not a scandalous
business, that an architect or a physician should have
more regard for his profession than a man has for
his ? For his, I say, in which he has the honour of
the gods for his partners.MEDITATIONS.

95

36.	The vast continents of Europe and Asia are
but corners of the creation. The ocean is but a drop,
and Mount Athos but a grain in respect of the
universe, and the present time but a point to the
extent of eternity. These things have all of them
petty, changeable, and transitory beings. Remember
likewise that all things proceed from the soul of the
universe, either by direct or indirect causality.
Thus the growling deformity of a lion, the poison of
serpents, and whatever seems offensive in nature, as
thorns or dirt, are the outcome of something noble and
beautiful. Do not therefore suppose them insignifi-
cant and unworthy the being you worship, but
consider the fountain whence all things spring.

37.	He that has taken a view of the present age,
has seen as much as if he had begun with the world,
and gone to the end of it; for all things are of one
kind, and of one form.

38.	The mutual dependence all things have, and
the relation they stand in to each other, is worth your
frequent observation. For all the parts of matter are
in some measure linked together and interwoven, and
for this reason have a natural sympathy for each
other. For one thing comes in order after another,
and this comes about through their active movement
and harmony, and the unity of their substance.

39.	Bring your will to your fate, and suit your
mind to your circumstances, and love those people
heartily that it is your fortune to be engaged with.

40.	Those tools, vessels, and utensils are said to be
right, which serve for the uses they were made, though96

MEDITATIONS.

in this case the artificer that made them is commonly
absent. But in the works of nature, the forming
power is always present with the effect, and abides
there, wherefore this deserves a particular regard.
From hence you are to conclude that as long as you
behave yourself as this sovereign power directs you,
you will live in accordance with intelligence. In
this way too all things in the universe are directed by
intelligence.

41.	If you suppose anything which lies out of your
command to be good or evil, your missing the one
or falling into the other will unavoidably make you a
malcontent against the gods, and cause you to hate
those people whom you either know or suspect to be
instrumental in your misfortune. To be plain, our
being concerned for these objects often makes us very
unreasonable and unjust. But if we confine the
notion of good and evil to things in our power, then
all the motives to complaint will drop off; then we
shall neither remonstrate against Heaven, nor quarrel
with any mortal living.

42.	All people work in some measure towards the
ends of Providence, some with knowledge and design,
though others are not sensible of it. And thus, as I
remember, Heraclitus observes, that those who are
asleep may be said to help the world forward. In
short, the grand design is carried on by different hands
and different means. For even he that complaining
makes head against his fate, and strives to pull the
administration in pieces, even such a testy mortal as
this contributes his share abundantly, for the universeMEDITATIONS.

97

had need even of such an one. Consider, then, how
you are ranging yourself, and what workers you are
joining. For He that governs the world will certainly
make you good for something, and prove serviceable
to his scheme, one way or other. Have a care you do
not make such a ridiculous figure in nature, as that
mean and ridiculous verse did in the play Chrysippus
mentions.

43.	The sun never covets the properties of a
shower, nor does iEsculapius interfere with the fruit-
bearing god. Are not the stars different from each
other ? And yet their influences work towards the
same end.

44.	If the gods have decreed anything concerning
me or my business, they have decreed my advantage.
For it is absurd to suppose that they are mistaken in
their measures, or not benevolent in their design. For
to what purpose should they intend me any harm ?
What would themselves, or the universe, the special
object of their providence, gain by it ? But granting
they have made no particular provision for me, yet since
their government of the world is not disputed, the
consequence will be much the same. And why, then,
should I not be contented with whatever happens as a
consequence of the universal whole ? To put the case
further. Suppose the gods take care of nothing (which,
by the way, we must reckon a scandalous opinion),
then it will be high time to leave off the common
solemnities of sacrificing, prayers and religious swearr
ing, and all those observances which we keep as though
the gods were present and dwelling with us. If the98

MEDITATIONS.

gods, therefore, will take care of none of us, it is cer-
tainly lawful for me to take care of myself. Now, it
is my right to consider my own convenience, and what
is that i Why, that is convenient for every one, which
suits his nature and his constitution. Now reason and
social principles are suited to my nature. Take me,
then, under the particular distinction of Antoninus,
and Rome is my towTn and country; but consider me
as a man in general, and I belong to the corporation
of the world. That, therefore, and only that which
is serviceable to both these societies, is an advantage
to me.

45. Whatever happens to particulars, is serviceable
to the universe, that thought might satisfy. But we
can carry the reasons for acquiescence farther, for
upon observation you will perceive that what is profit-
able to one man, is in some measure for the interest of
the rest. And here I take the word profit in the
common meaning of things neither good nor bad.

4.6. You may remember that at a play, or such
like diversion, the same thing coming over and over
again tires the sense, and extinguishes the pleasure.
Remove this contemplation into life ; for here all things
come round, and bring the same causes and appear-
ances along with them. How long, then, will this
last ?

47. Consider with yourself that people of all con-
ditions, professions, and countries are dead, if you
cast your eyes back as far as Philistion, Phoebus, or
Qriganion. Now turn towards the other classes of
men. And we must take our turn, too, with the rest,MEDITATIONS\

99

and remove to the same place whither so many famous
orators and great philosophers, such as Heraclitus,
Pythagoras, and Socrates have shown us the way. So
many heroes and generals and princes, and besides
Eudoxus, Hipparchus, and Archimedes, not to men-
tion a great many other extraordinary geniuses, per-
sons of industry, wit, spirit, and versatility and con-
fidence; they are all gone; even those buffoons,
who, like Menippus, mocked at this perishable and
transitory existence. Remember they are all in their
graves. And where is the harm of all this ? nay,
what are those the worse for it, that have not so much
as left their own names behind them ? In a word,
there is only one thing here worth the minding, and
that is, to be true and just, and to show benevolence,
even to the untrue and unjust.

48.	When you have a mind to divert your fancy,
consider the good qualities of your acquaintance; as
the enterprising vigour of this man, the modesty of an-
other, the liberality of a third, and so on. For there
is nothing so entertaining as a lively image of the
virtues exhibited in the character of those we converse
with, occurring as numerously as possible. Let this,
therefore, be always at hand.

49.	You are not angry because you weigh so light
in the scale, and do not ride forty stone. Why, then,
should you be dissatisfied because your life is not
drawn out to an unusual and extraordinary period ?
You ought to be no more covetous of time than you are
of bulk, but be contented with your own allowance.

50.	It is good to try to bring people to a rightIOO

MEDITATIONS.

understanding of the case; but if they are unwilling,
be governed by the law of justice. If there comes a
force upon you and stops your progress, abandon it
and be easy, and make a virtue of necessity. Re-
member that you undertook the business upon the
condition of its being feasible, and never pretended to
grasp at impossibilities. What was it, then, you
aimed at % Why, to do your best in your effort.
Right! And this may be effectually done, though
the enterprise should happen to miscarry.

51.	The ambitious person lodges his happiness in
the activity of another, the voluptuary in his own
affections, but a man of understanding places his goo„d
in his own action.

52.	We are at liberty not to misinterpret any
accident, and by consequence may be free from dis-
turbance. Things have no natural power over
thoughts to influence our judgment.

53.	Accustom yourself to attend to what is dis-
coursed, and as far as you can get into the soul of him
that speaks.

54.	That which is not for the interest of the whole
swarm is not for the interest of a single bee.

55.	If the patient rails at the doctor, or the crew
at the master of the vessel, whom will they mind, or
how can the doctor secure their health,.or. the master
of the vessel a good voyage ?

56.	How many people that came into the world
with me are gone out of it already ?

57.	Honey tastes bitter to the jaundiced, and
people bitten by a mad dog are frightened at the sightMEDITATIONS.

ior

of water. And on the other hand, a little ball is a
beautiful thing to a child. This considered, why
should you be angry with any one ? Can you imagine
that error has less force'upon the mind than a little
bile or poison upon the body ?

58.	As nobody can rob you of the privileges of
your nature, or force you to live counter to your rea-
son, so nothing can happen to you but what is con-
sistent with the interest of the universe.

59.	Consider with yourself what sort of people
men must court, and for what base objects and by
what scandalous actions. And then how time will
cover all things, arid how many it has covered already.****«*******«**»»»»«

BOOK VII.

wwwwwwww^nwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww'frwBOOK VII.

1. PRgfiHHAT wickedness? What you have
often seen. When you are in danger
of being shocked, consider that the
sight is nothing but what you have
frequently seen already. Everywhere
up. and down, ages and histories, towns and families,
are full of the same stories. There is nothing new
to be met with; but all things are common, and
quickly over.

2.	Opinions, whether right or wrong, can never be
pulled out of yotir head, unless the impressions on
which they rest are first removed. It is in your power
to kindle them afresh, or to form a right judgment
upon the present emergency. And why, then, should
I be disturbed at it? For nothing that does not
enter my mind, and get within me, can hurt me.
Hold to this, and you are safe. Come, I will tell you
a way how you may live your time over again. Do
but recollect, and review what you have seen already,
and the work is done.

3.	Gazing after shows, the diversions of the stage,
farms well stocked with flocks and herds, contests for
victory in the field are all much the same. So, too, aio6

MEDITATIONS.

bone thrown to puppies, fishes scrambling for a bait,
ants laboriously carrying a grain of wheat, mice
frighted out of their wits and running away, puppets
danced upon a wire. And in the midst of them a
wise man must be good-humoured, and not grow
haughty in the contemplation. Remembering, not-
withstanding, that the true worth of a man is to be
measured by the objects he pursues.

4.	Do not let either discourse or action pass unob-
served ; attend to the sense and signification of the one,
and to the tendency and design of the other.

5.	Is my intellect sufficient for this business or
not ? If it is, I will make use of my talent as given
me by heaven for that purpose. If not, I will either
let it alone, and resign it to a better capacity, unless
that be contrary to my duty, or else I will do what I
can. I will give my advice, and put the executing
part into an abler hand, and thus the right moment
and the general interest may be secured. For what-
soever I act, either by myself, or in conjunction with
another, I am always to aim at the advantage of the
community.

6.	How many famous men are dropped out of
history and forgotten? And how many, that pro-
mised to keep up other people's names, have lost their
own ?

7.	Never be ashamed of assistance. Like a soldier
at the storming of a town, your business is to maintain
your post, and execute your orders. Now suppose
you happen to be lame at an assault, and cannot mount
the breach upon your own feet, will you not suffer your
comrade to help you ?MED IT A TIONS.

107

8.	Be not disturbed about the future, for if ever
you come to it, you will have the same reason for
your ^uide, which preserves you at present.

9.	All parts of the universe are interwoven and
tied together with a sacred bond. And no one thing
is foreign or unrelated to another. This general, con-
nection gives unity and ornament to the world. For
the world, take it altogether, is but one. There is
but one sort of matter to make it of; one God that

pervades it; and one law to guide it, the common
reason of all rational beings; and one truth ; if, indeed,
beings of the same kind, and endued with the same
reason, have one and the same perfection.

10.	Everything material quickly disappears into
the universal matter. And everything causal is
quickly absorbed into the universal reason. And
the memory of everything is quickly overwhelmed
by time.

11.	With rational beings action in accordance with
nature and reason is the same thing.

12.	Either stand upright upon your own legs, or
upon your crutches.

13.	Just as connection creates sympathy in the mem-
bers of the body, so relation of nature does the? same
thing among rational beings. For though separate in
space, they seem all made to co-operate with each other.
This thought will be more intelligible and affecting, if
you frequently consider }^ourself as a member of the
rational system. But if you reckon yourself only a
part, you do not yet love mankind with all your heart.
A generous action does not yet delight you from con-

265io8

MEDITATIONS.

viction ; you do a good office merely for fashion and
decency, but not as if it were really a kindness to
yourself.

14.	Let accidents happen to such as are liable to
the impression, and those that feel misfortune may
complain of it, if they please. As for me, let what
will come, I can receive no damage by it, unless I
think it a calamity ; and it is in my power, to think it
none, if I have a mind to it.

15.	Let people's tongues and actions be what they
will, my business is to be good. And make the same
speech to myself, that a piece of gold, or an emerald,
or purple should. Let people talk and act as they
please; I must be an emerald, and I must keep my
colour.

16.	Does the mind ever cause herself disturbance ?
Does she bring fears and passions upon herself?
Let any other body try to frighten or trouble her if
they can, for of her own conviction she will not turn to
such impressions. And as for this small carcass, let it
take care not to feel, and if it does, say so. But the
soul, the seat of passion and pain, which forms an opinion
on these things, need suffer nothing, unless she throws
herself into these fancies and fears. For the mind is
in her own nature self-sufficient, and must create her
wants before she can feel them. This privilege makes
her undisturbed and above restraint, unless she teazes
and puts fetters upon herself.

17.	Happiness is the possession of a good genius
or goodness. Why then does fancy break in and
disturb the scene ? Begone ! by the gods, as youMEDITATIONS.

109

came ; I do not want you ! However, since you have
custom to plead in your excuse, withdraw, and I will
forgive you.

18.	Is anyone afraid of change? I would gladly
know what can be done without it ? and what is dearer
and more suitable to the universal nature ? Pray,
must not your wood be transformed before your bath
can be ready for you ? Must not your meat be
changed to make it fit to nourish you ? Indeed, what
part of life or convenience can go forward without
alteration ? Now, in all likelihood a change in your
condition may be as serviceable to the world in general,
as those alterations above mentioned are to you.

19.	All particular bodies are hurried as through a
swift torrent through the universal mass of which
they are incorporate, like a sort of serviceable limbs
to the world. How many a Chrysippus, Socrates, and
Epictetus have sunk in the gulf of time? And the
same reflection will hold good concerning any other
person or thing whatsoever.

20.	I am only solicitous about one thing, and that
is, lest I should do something that the constitution of
man does not permit, or in the way or time it does
not permit.

21.	It will not be long before you will have for-
gotten all the world, and in a little time all the world
will forget you too.

22.	It is the privilege of human nature to love
those that disoblige us. To practise this, you must
consider that the offending party is of kin to you, that
ignorance is the cause of the misbehaviour, and theI IO

MEDITATIONS.

fault is involuntary, that you will both of you quickly
be in your graves ; but especially consider that you
have received no harm by the injury, for your mind is
never the worse for it.

23.	The universal nature works the universal
matter like wax. Now for the purpose, it is a horse ;
soon after you will have it melted down, and run into
the figure of a tree, then a man, then something
else. And it is but a little while that it is fixed in
one species. Now a trunk feels no more pain by being
knocked in pieces than when it was first put together.

24.	A sour gruff look is very unnatural, and to put
it on often will make it settle, and destroy the beauty
and pleasantness of the aspect to that degree that it
is never to be recovered: from whence you may conclude
it is a foolish custom. It is high time for those people
to die that have outlived the sense of their own mis-
demeanours.

25.	That being which governs nature will quickly
change the present face of it. One thing will be
made out of another by frequent revolutions. And
thus the world will be always new.

26.	When anyone misbehaves himself towards you,
immediately bethink yourself what notions he has con-
cerning advantage and disadvantage. When you have
found out this, you will pity him, and neither be
angry nor surprised at the matter. It may be upon
enquiry you may find your opinions upon these points
much the same, and then you ought to pardon him.
But if your notions of good and evil are different, then
you will more easily bear with his ignorance.MEDITATIONS.

in

27.	Do not let your head run upon that which is
none of your own, but pick out some of the best of
your circumstances, and consider how eagerly you
would wish for thenij were they not in your possession ;
but then you must take care to keep your satisfaction
within compass, for fear it should carry you too far,
make you over-value the object, and be disturbed at
the loss of it.

28.	Rely upon yourself, for it is the nature of the
principle that rules within us, to be satisfied with
honesty, and the inward quiet consequent to it.

29.	Rub out the colours of imagination. Do not
suffer your passions to make a puppet of you. Confine
your care to the present. Look through that which
happens either to yourself or another. Distinguish
the parts of your subject, and divide them into the
causal and material element. Think upon your last hour;
and do not trouble yourself about other peoples faults,
but leave them with those that must answer for them.

30.	When you hear a discourse, make your under-
standing keep pace with it, and reach as far as you
can into events and their causes.

31.	Would you set off your person, and recommend
yourself? Let it be done by simplicity, by modesty
of behaviour, and by indifference to things neither
good nor bad. Love mankind and resign to provi-
dence. For as the poet observes, "All things are
under law," not the elements only, but it suffices to
remember that there are at the most but very few
things in the world that are not under law.

32.	Concerning death : It is a dispersion if there112

MEDITATIONS.

are atoms ; but if the universe is a unity, it is either
extinction or change.

33.	As for pain, if it is intolerable it will quickly
dispatch you. If it stays long it is bearable. Your
mind in the meantime preserves herself calm by the
strength of the opining faculty, and suffers nothing.
And for your limbs that are hurt by the pain, if they
can complain, let them do it.

34.	As for fame, consider the intellect of the
people that are to commend, how insignificant they
are, and how little in their pursuits and aversions.
Consider also that as one heap of sand thrown upon
another covers the first, so it happens in life, a new
glory soon eclipses an old one.

35.	A saying of Plato, " He that has raised his
mind to a due pitch of greatness, that has carried his
view through the whole extent of matter and time,
do you imagine such an one will think much of human
life ? Not at all (says the other man in the dialogue).
What then ? Will the fear of death afflict him ? Far
from it."

36.	Antisthenes said, "It is a royal thing to be
ill spoken of for good deeds."

37.	It is a shame that a man should be master of
his countenance, and compose or control it as the mind
directs, while that mind is not controlled by itself.

38.	"Ne'er fret at accidents, for things are sullen,

And don't regard your anger."

39.	"To the immortal gods and us give joy."

40.	" Fate mows down life like corn, this mortal falls;

The other stands awhile."MEDITATIONS.

"3

41.	" If I and mine are by the gods neglected,

There's reason for their rigour."

42.	" For the good is with me and the just."

43.	"No joining others in their wailing, no violent
emotion."

44.	More of Plato's sentences:—"To such a one I
should return this very reasonable answer, Hark ye,
friend, you are mightily out if you think a man that
is good for anything is either afraid of living or dying.
No; his concern is only whether in doing anything he
is doing right or wrong—acting the part of a good
man or a bad.,,

45.	Plato again:—"In my opinion, when a man
holds a post with his own choice, or has been put into
it by his superior, his business is to remain there in
the hour of danger, and fear nothing but disgrace and
cowardice."

46.	Plato once more:—"With your favour, sir, it
is not alwa}7s the part of virtue and bravery to pre-
serve either your own life or your neighbour's. He
that is a man in good earnest must not be so mean as
to whine for life, and grasp internperately at old age:
let him leave this point to Providence. The women
can tell him that we must go when our time is come.
His duty is to consider how he may make the most of
his life, and spend what there is to the best advantage."

47.	Consider the course of the stars as if you were
driving through the sky with them. Let the trans-
mutation of the elements be frequently the subject of
your meditation. Such contemplations as these scour
off the rust contracted by dwelling here below.ii4

MEDITATIONS.

48.	It is a fine saying that of Plato's :—" That
when we consider the state and condition of man-
kind, we should place our imagination upon some lofty
pyramid, and from thence take a prospect of the world,
and look it over as it were at one view. Here we
may see flocks, armies, husbandry, marriages and
separations, births and deaths, clamours of the law
courts, desert places, variety of barbarous people, feasts,
lamentations, and markets. Take it altogether, it is a
strange medley. And yet you will find the diversity
of the parts contributes to the harmony of the whole."

49.	By looking back into history, and considering
the fate and revolutions of government, you will be
able to draw a guess, and almost prophesy upon the
future; for they will certainly be of the same nature,
and cannot but be cast in the same mould. So that
forty years of human life may serve for a sample of
ten thousand. For what more will you see?

50.	" What's sprung from earth dissolves to earth

again,

And heaven-born things fly to their native
seat."

That is, there is a loosing of the entanglements of the
atoms, and a scattering abroad of the insensible elements.

51.	"With food, and drinks, and cunning magic arts,

Turning the channel's course to'scape from
death."

"The breeze which heaven has sent

We must endure, and toil without complaint."

52.	Can another man ride or fence better than
you ? It may be so. Let nobody outdo yon in socialMEDITATIONS.

and modest behaviour. Let nobody be more rciigned
to fate and forgiving to his neighbours.

53. As long as a man can make use of that reason
which he shares with the gods and man, he need
not question the event. There can be no grounds
to suspect misfortune, provided you stick close to
nature and act in accordance with your condition,
i 54. It is always and everywhere in your power
resign to the gods, to be just to mankind, and to
examine every impression with such care that nothing
may enter that is not well examined.

55. Never make any rambling enquiries after other
people's thoughts, but look directly at the mark which
nature has set you. Nature, I say, either that of the
universe or your own; the first leads you to submis-
sion to Providence, the latter to act as becomes you.
Now that which is suitable to the frame and constitu-
tion of things is what becomes them. To be more
particular, the rest of the world is designed for the
service of rational beings in consequence of this general
appointment, by which the lower order of things are
made for the use of the more noble. And rational
creatures are designed for the advantage of each other.
Now a social temper is that which human nature was
principally intended for; the next thing designed in
our being is to be proof against corporeal impressions,
it being the peculiar privilege of reason to move within
herself, and not suffer sensation or passion to break in
lipop her ; for these are both of animal and inferior
quality. But the understanding part claims a right
to govern, and will not bend to matter and appetite ;MEDITA TIONS.

and good reason for it, since she was born to command
and make use of them. The third main requisite in
a rational being is to secure the assent from rashness
and mistake. Let your mind but compass these
points, and stick to them, and then she is mistress of
everything which belongs to her.

56.	We ought to spend the remainder of our life
according to nature, as if we wiare already dead, and
had come to the end of our term.

57.	Let your fate be your only inclinafion, for
there is nothing more reasonable.

58.	When any accident happens, call to mind those
who have formerly been under the same circum-
stances, how full of surprise, complaint, and trouble
they were about the matter. And where are they
now ? They are gone, their murmuring could not
make them immortal. To what purpose should you
imitate their behaviour ? Cannot you leave these
foreign emotions to those who cause them, and those
who are moved by them ? Your business is only to
consider how you may give a turn of advantage to the
emergency. Now you can make good use of them,
and they will supply excellent material, if you .will
but take care, and do nothing but what is warrantable.
Always remembering, that whether you use it ill or
well, the thing wherewith action is concerned, is in
both cases indifferent.

59.	Look inwards, for you have a lasting fountain
of happiness at home that will always bubble up if
you will but dig for it.

60.	Take care that your motions and gestures mayMEDITATIONS.

117

be grave and composed, for the same air of sense and
decency which the mind can put into the face ought
to be visible through the whole body, but then all
this must be,done without the least affectation..

61.	The art of living resembles wrestling more than
dancing, for here a man does not know his movement
and his measures beforehand. No, he is obliged to
stand strong against chance, and secure himself as
occasion shall offer.

62.	Consider what sort of people are they that
must commend you, and how are their understandings
furnished. Truly, if you do but consider the source
of their opinions and passions, you will pity their
ignorant misbehaviour, and not care a rush for their
approbation.

63.	It is a saying of Plato's, that no soul misses
truth of her own good-will. The same may be said
with reference to justice, sobriety, good-nature, and
the like. Be particularly careful to remember this, for
it will help to sweeten your temper towards all men.

64.	When you lie under any corporeal affliction, let
this thought be at hand to relieve you : that there is
no disgrace in pain, that the sovereign part of your
mind is never the worse for it. For how can she
suffer unless her material or her social nature be
impaired ? Besides, Epicurus's maxim will help to
support you under most pains ; for as he observes,
they will neither be intolerable nor everlasting. But
then you must keep in mind the limits set to them, and
not run into the common opinion about them. And
here you must remember that there are many moreix8

MEDITATIONS.

sensations than we are aware of, which belong to the
nature of pain, such as drowsiness, excessive heat,
want of appetite. Now, when you find yourself fret
and grow disturbed at these things, take notice that
pain has got the better of you.

65.	Do not return the temper of ill-natured people
upon themselves, nor treat them as they do the rest of
mankind.	..... , hr:.'■

66.	Which way are we to conclude that Socrates
was a better man in virtue and temper than Telauges ?
To make out this, it is not enough to say that he dis-
puted better with the sophists, and died more bravely ;
that he passed the night in the cold with more endur-
ance, and that when he was bidden to arrest Leon of
Salamis, he held it nobler to refuse; that he walked
with a swaggering air in the streets, though the truth
of this last particular may be questioned. To prove
the point, we must examine what sort of soul Socrates
carried about with him. Gould he be contented with
the conscience of an honest and a pious man ? Did
he abstain from fretting and fuming to no purpose at
the knavery and wickedness of the age ? Was he
governed by nobody's ignorance? Did he never
question the equity of Providence, grow surprised at
his hard fortune, aiid sink under the weight of it, and
not dip his soul too deep in his senses ? J

67.	Nature has not wrought your composition so
close that you cannot withdraw within your own
limits, and do your own business yourself; for a man
may be first-rate in virtue and true value, and yet be
very obscure at the same time. You may likewiseMEDITATIONS.

119

observe that happiness has very few wants. Granting
your talent will not reach very far into logic, this cannot
hinder the freedom of your mind, nor deprive you of
the blessings of sobriety, beneficence, and resignation.

68.	You may live with all the freedom and satis-
faction imaginable, though the whole world should
cry you down; nay, though wild beasts should tear this
flesh with which you are enveloped. For pray, how
can anything of this reach up to your mind and ruffle
her serenity ? How can it prevent your passing a
right judgment upon your circumstances, and making
the best use of them ? And thus your reason may
address the object of terror: " Look you ! nature has
made you one thing, and common mistake another."
And use may address what befalls, " It is you I was
seeking," For it is my way to make everything serve
as an opportunity for rational or social virtue in a
performance of some duty either to God or man. For
since all that happens is related to God or man, there is
nothing new in it or difficult to deal with, but all is
familiar and easy.	-

69.	He that is come to the top of wisdom and
practice, spends every day as if it were his last, and
is never guilty of over-excitement, sluggishness, or
insincerity.

70.	Though the gods are immortal, and have their
patience tried through so many ages, yet they are not
angry, because for so long a time they will have to
put up with such base and wretched mortals, but even
provide liberally for them. And are you, that are
just going off the stage, sick of the company ? are120

MEDITATIONS.

you tired with evil men already, and yet one of those
unhappy mortals yourself?

71.	It is great folly not to part with your own
faults which is possible, but to try instead to escape
from other people's faults, which is impossible.

72.	Whatever business tends neither to the im-
provement of your reason, nor the benefit of society,
the rational and social faculty thinks beneath it.

73.	When you have done a kindness, and your
neighbour is the better for it, why need you be so
foolish as to look any farther, and gape for reputation
and requital %

74.	Nobody is ever tired of advantages. Now to
act in conformity to the laws of nature is certainly an
advantage. Do not you therefore grow weary of doing
good offices, whereby you receive -the advantage.

75.	There was a time when the universal nature
moved towards making the world. So that now all
events must either be consequences of the first crea-
tion, or else even the chief things at which the
universal ruling principle aims are without design.
Now this thought will go a great way towards making
a man easy.***** *
BOOK VIII.BOOK VIIL

1. IK^'"J£f|Q keep you modest and free from vain
Bgnl SSI §^ory> remember that it is no longer
tfmI in your power to spend your life
IFfffi 1 in wholly, from youth upwards, in the
pursuit of wisdom. Your friends and
yourself, too, are sufficiently acquainted how much
you fall short of philosophy; you have been liable to
disturbance, so that the bare report of being a* philo-
sopher is no longer an easy matter for you to compass;
you are unqualified by your station. However, since
you know how to come at the thing, never be con-
cerned about missing the credit. Be satisfied, there-
fore, and for the rest of your life let your own rational
nature direct you. Mind, then, what she desires, and
let nothing foreign disturb you. You are very sensible
how much you have rambled after happiness, and
failed. Neither learning, nor wealth, nor fame, nor
pleasure could ever help you to it. Which way is it
to be had then ? By acting up to the height of
human nature. And how shall a man do this ? Why,
by getting a right set of principles for impulses and
actions. And what principles are those ? Such
as state and distinguish good and evil. Such as

266124

MEDITATIONS,

give us to understand that there is nothing properly
good for a man but what promotes the virtues of
justice, temperance, fortitude, and independence, nor
anything bad for him, but that which carries him off
to the contrary vices.

2.	At every action ask yourself this question, What
will the consequence of this be to me ? Am I not
likely to repent of it ? I shall be dead in a little
time, and then all is over with me. If the present
undertaking is but suitable to an intelligent and
sociable being, and one that has the honour to live by
the same rule and reason with God himself ; if the
case stands thus, all is well, and to what purpose
should you look any farther ?

3.	Alexander, Julius Caesar, and Pompey, what
were they in comparison of Diogenes, Heraclitus, and
Socrates ? These philosophers looked through things
and their causes, and their ruling principles were in
accordance. But as for those great princes, what a
load of cares were they pestered with, and to how
many things were they slaves !

4.	People will play the same pranks over and over
again, though you should burst.

5.	In the first place, keep yourself easy, for all-
things are governed by the universal nature. Besides,
you will quickly go the way of all flesh, as Augustus
and Hadrian have done before you. Farther, examine
the matter to the bottom, and remember that your
business is to be a good man. Therefore, whatever
the dignity of human nature requires of you, set aboutMEDITATIONS.

125

it at once, without "ifs" or "ands"; and speak always
according to your conscience, but let it be done in the
terms of good nature and modesty and sincerity.

6.	It is the work of Providence to change the face
of things, and remove them from one place to another.
All conditions are subject to revolution, so that you
need not be afraid of anything new, for all things are
usual, and equally distributed.

7.	Every being is at ease when its powers move
regularly and without interruption. Now a rational
being is in this prosperous condition when its judgment
is gained by nothing but truth and evidence, when its
designs are all meant for the advantage of society,
when its desires and aversions are confined to objects
within its power, when it rests satisfied with the
distributions of the universal nature of which it is a
part, just as much as a leaf belongs to the nature of
the tree that bears it. Only with this difference, that
a -leaf is part of a nature without sense or reason, and
liable to be checked in its operations, whereas a
man is a limb as it were of an intelligent, righteous,
and irresistible being, that is all wisdom, and assigns
matter and form, time, force, and fortune, to everything
in one measure and proportion. And this you will
easily perceive if you do not compare one thing with
another in every detail, but compare the whole of one
thing with the whole of another.

8.	You have no leisure to read books, what then ?
You have leisure to check your insolence. It is in
your power to' be superior to pleasure and pain, to be
deaf to the charms of ambition. It is in your power126

MEDITATIONS.

not only to forbear being angry with people for their
folly and ingratitude, but over and above, to cherish
their interest, and take care of them.

9.	Never again let any man hear you censure a
court life, nor seem dissatisfied with your own.

10.	Kepentance is a reproof of a man's conscience
for the neglect of some advantages. Now, whatever is
morally good is profitable, and ought to be the
concern of a man of probity. But no good man
would ever be inwardly troubled for the omission of
any pleasure, whence it follows that pleasure is
neither profitable nor good. ,

11.	What is this thing considered in itself? Of
what sort of substance, of what material and causal
parts does it consist ? What share of action has it in
the world ? and how long is it likely to stay there ?

12.	When you find yourself sleepy in a morning,
remember that business and doing service to the
world is to act up to nature and live like a man.
Whereas sleep you have in common with the
beasts. Now those actions which fall in with a man's
nature are more suitable and serviceable, yes, and
more pleasant than others.

13.	Upon every new impression let it be your
constant custom to examine the object in the light of
physics, ethics, and dialectics.

14.	When you are about to converse with any
person, make this short speech to yourself: What
notions has this man about good and evil ? Then if
he has such opinions concerning pleasure and pain,
and the causes of them, reputation or ignominy, lifeMEDITATIONS.

127

or death; if the case stands thus with him, I shall
not wonder at his practice, and I shall remember
that it is next to impossible he should do otherwise.

15.	Would it not be an odd instance of surprise to
stare at a fig-tree for bearing figs ? Why then should
it seem strange to us for the world to act like itself,
and produce things pursuant to quality and kind ?
This is just as foolish as it would be for a physician
to wonder at a fever, or a master of a vessel at a cross
blast of wind.

16.	To retract or mend a fault at the admonition
of a friend in no way hurts your liberty, for it is still
your own activity which by means of your own
impulse and judgment, and by your own mind, makes
you see your mistake.

17.	Why do you do this, if it is in your power to
let it alone ? But if you cannot help it, whom do you
blame ? The atoms or the gods ? Either is folly, and
therefore we must murmur against nothing. If you
can mend the cause, set about it. If not, mend the
thing itself. If you cannot do even that, what are
you the better for grumbling? Now a man should
never do anything to no purpose.

18.	Whatever drops out of life is somewhere, for
the world loses nothing. If it stays here, it also
changes here, and is dissolved into its proper parts,
which are elements of the universe and of yourself.
And these two change and do not complain.

19.	Everything is made for some end. The sun
even will say, I have my business assigned, and so128

MEDITATIONS.

too the celestial deities. But pray, what were you
made for ? For your pleasure ? Common sense will
not bear such an answer.

20.	Nature pre-ordains the end of everything, no
less than its beginning and continuance, as does he that
strikes a ball, and what is the ball the better all this
while for mounting, or the worse for flying lower, and
coming to the ground ? What does a bubble get in
the swelling or lose in the breaking ? The same may
be said of a candle.

21.	Turn your body the wrong side outwards, and
see it as it is, and consider what age and disease will
make of you, and consider that both the orator and the
hero, the praiser and the praised, will quickly be out
of sight, and that we live but in a corner of this little
dimension, that men differ in their notions of honour
and esteem, and that even the same person is not of
the same opinion long together, and, moreover, that
the earth is but a point.

22.	Mind that which lies before you, whether it
be thought, word, or action. You are well enough
served for choosing rather to become good to-morrow
than be good to-day.

23.	Am I about anything ? I will do it with regard
to the interest of mankind. Does anything happen
to me? I receive it, referring it to the gods, and the
fountain of all things whence springs all that happens.

24.	Think a little, and tell me what you meet
with in the business of bathing? There is oil and
sweat, and dirtiness and water, but an offensive mix-MEDITATIONS.

129

ture, take it altogether. Why, life and everything in
it is made up of such indifferent stuff

25.	Lucilla buried Verus, and followed him soon
after. Secunda did the same office for Maximus, and
survived but a little while. And thus it fared with
Epitynchanus and Diotimus, with Antoninus and
Faustina, with Celer and the Emperor Hadrianus;
they assisted at one funeral, and quickly made an-
other themselves. Where are those men of wit, force,
and knowledge, and the others puffed up with pride?
They made a great noise and figure formerly, but
what is become of them now ? Where are those
sharp-witted philosophers, Charax, Eudsemon, Deme-
trius the Platonist, and others of their learning ?
Alas ! they took but a turn in the world, and are
gone long since. Some of them have sunk at once,
and left no memory behind them. The history of
others is overcast, and dwindled into fables, and a
third sort have dropped even • out of fables. Your
business is therefore to remember, that after death
this compound of yours will fall to pieces ; or else
your soul will either be extinguished or removed
into another station.

26.	Satisfaction consists in doing the things we
were made for. And how is this to be compassed ?
By the practice of general kindness, by neglecting the
movements of our senses, by distinguishing appear-
ance from truth, and by contemplating the nature of
the universe and its works.

27.	Every man has three relations to acquit him-
self in : his body that encompasses him makes one,130

MEDITATIONS.

the Divine cause that gives to all men all things an-
other, and his neighbours a third.

28.	If pain is an affliction, it must affect either the
body or the mind ; if the body is hurt, let it say so;
as for the soul, it is in her power to preserve her
serenity and calm by supposing the accident no evil;
for judgment and impulse, aversion and desire, are
lodged within, and there no mischief can come at
them.

29.	Rub out the impressions of fancy on the mind
by continually saying to yourself, It is in my power
to make my soul free from desire or disturbance. I
am likewise able to distinguish the quality of things,
and make use of them accordingly. These are all
privileges of nature, and ought to be remembered as
such.

30.	When you speak in the senate or elsewhere,
speak suitably and without affectation, and let your
discourse be always clear.

31.	Augustus' court is buried long since; his
empress and daughter, his grand-children and ances-
tors, his sister and Agrippa, his relations and domes-
tics, physicians and sacrificers, his favourites, such as
Arius the philosopher, and Maecenas, they are all gone.
Go on from single persons to families, that of the
Pompeys, for instance, and you will find the whole line
extinct. " This man was the last of his house," is not
uncommon upon a monument. How solicitous were
the ancestors of such people about an heir; and yet
some one must of necessity be the last. Here, too,
consider the death of a whole race.MEDITATIONS,

32.	Guide your life towards a single course of action,
and if every action goes its due length, as far as may
be, rest contented. Now, no mortal can hinder you
from putting your affairs in this condition. But may
not some obstacle from without interpose? No; not
so far as to prevent your acting like a man of probity,
moderation, and prudence. But perhaps my activity
may be checked in some other way. It is no matter
for that. As long as you are easy under the obstruc-
tion, and pass on smoothly to whatever offers, you
have at once another opportunity for action, in accord-
ance with this aforesaid government.

33.	As to the case of good fortune, take it without
pride, and resign it without reluctance.

34.	If you have observed a hand or a foot cut
off, and removed from the body, just such a thing is
that man, as far as lies in his power, who is discon-
tented with fate, and breaks off from the interest of
mankind, or who by a selfish act has cut himself off
from the union of nature, for by nature he is a part of
the whole. But here lies the good luck of the case.
It is in your power to set the limb on again. This
favour is allowed by God to no other part of the
creation that what is separated and cut off should
be joined on again. Consider, then, the particular
bounty of God to man in this privilege. .He has set
him above the necessity of breaking off from nature
and Providence at all; but supposing he has broken
away, it is in his power to rejoin the body, and grow
together again, and recover the advantage of being the
same member he was at first.l32

MEDITATIONS.

35.	Whence come all the powers and prerogatives
of rational beings ? From the soul of the universe.
Amongst other faculties, they have this which I am
going to mention. For as the universal nature over-
rules all mutinous accidents, brings thera under the
laws of fate, and makes them part of itself, so it is
the power of man to make something out of every
hindrance, and turn it to his own advantage.

36.	Do not take your whole life into your head at
a time, iior burden yourself with the weight of the
future, nor form an image of all probable misfortunes.
This method will but confound you. On the contrary,
your way is upon every emergency to put this ques-
tion to yourself, " What intolerable circumstance is
there in all this?" For you will be ashamed to
assign particulars, and confess yourself conquered.
Besides, you are to remember, that neither what is
past nor what is to come need afflict you, for you have
only to deal with the present. Now, this is strangely
lessened, if you take it singly and by itself. Chide
your fancy, therefore, if it offers to shrink for a
moment and grow faint under so slender a trial.

37.	Do Panthea and Pergamus still wait at the
tomb of V'erus, or Chabrias and Diotimus at that of
Hadrian ? That would be absurd indeed ! And what
if they were there, would those princes be sensible of
the service ? Granting they were, what satisfaction
would it be to them ? And suppose they were pleased,
would these waiters be immortal ? Are they not
doomed to age and death with the rest of mankind ?
And when they are dead, what would the royal ghostsMEDITATIONS.

133

do for want of their attendance ? Alas ! all this cere-
mony must end at last in stench and dust.

38.	If you are so quick at discerning, says one,
discern and judge wisely.

39.	I find no mortal virtue which contradicts and
combats justice; this cannot be affirmed of pleasure,
for here temperance comes in with a restraint.

40.	It is opinion which gives being to misfortune,
do not fancy yourself hurt, and nothing can touch you.
But what is this "you ?" It is your reason. But I
am not all reason. Very well, but do not let reason
grow uneasy. And if any other part of you is in
trouble, let it keep its concerns to itself.

41.	To be checked in the functions of sense, and
motion, and desire is an evil to the animal life; that
which hinders the growth or flourishing of a vegetable
may be said to be an evil there, so likewise to be
cramped in the faculties of the mind is an evil to an
intelligent nature. Apply all this to yourself. Does
pleasure or pain attack you ? Turn them over to
your senses, and let them answer for it. Does any-
thing cross your undertaking ? Why, if you are
positive and peremptory about it, the disappointment
is really an evil to your rational nature. But if you
consider the usual course of things, then no manner of
hindrance or harm has happened to you; indeed, no
mortal can put a restraint upon the soul; and neither
fire nor sword, slander, tongue, nor tyrant can touch
her; just as a sphere when it has once come into
being remains a sphere.134

MEDITATIONS,

42.	Why should I vex myself that never willingly
vexed anybody ?

43.	Every man has his particular inclination, but
my pleasure lies in a sound understanding, a temper
that never falls out either with men or accidents,
that sees and takes all things with good humour, and
puts them to the uses they are fit for.

44.	Make the best of your time while you have it.
Those who are so solicitous about fame never consider
that future generations will be much the same as the
present whom they are vexed with, and they, too,
are mortal, what then can the noise or opinions of sudi
little mortals signify to you ?

45.	Toss me into.what climate or state you please,
for all that, I will keep my divine part content, if it
can but exist, and act in accordance with its nature.
What! is this misadventure big enough to ruffle my
mind and make it deteriorate ? To make it mean,
craving, and servile, and frightened; what is there
that can justify such disorders ?

46.	No accident can happen to any man but what
is consequent to his nature. And the same thing may
be affirmed of a beast, a vine, or a stone. Now if
things fare no otherwise than according to kind and
constitution, why should you complain ? You may be
assured the universal nature has never laid upon you
an intolerable evil.

47.	If anything external vexes you, take notice
that it is not the thing which disturbs you, but your
notion about it, which notion you may dismiss at
once if you please. But if the condition of your mindMEDITATIONS.

135

displease yon, who should hinder you from rectifying
your opinion ? Farther, if you are disturbed because
you are not active in the discharge of your duty, your
way is rather to do something than to grieve at your
own omission. But you are under some insuperable
difficulty ; then never vex yourself about the matter,
for you have nothing to answer for. It may be you
will say : It is not worth my while to live unless this
business can be effected. Why then, even die; but
take your leave contentedly, go off as smoothly as if
you were in full activity, and be not angry with those
that disappointed you.

48.	The mind is invincible when she turns to her-
self, and relies upon her own courage; in this case
there is no forcing her will, though she has nothing
but obstinacy for her defence. What then must her
strength be when she is fortified with reason, and
engages upon thought and deliberation? A soul
unembarrassed with passion is a very citadel, the most
impregnable security for man in future ; hither we
may retire and defy our enemies. He that has not
seen this advantage must be ignorant, and he that
neglects to use it unhappy.

49.	Do not make more of things than your senses
report. For instance, you are told that such an one
has spoken ill of you. Right; but that you are really
the worse for it is no part of the news. Again, I see
my child lie sick. True ; but that he is in danger is
more than I see* Thus always stop at the first
representation, and add nothing yourself from within,
and you are safe. Or rather, reason upon it like a136

MEDITATIONS.

man that has looked through the world, and is no
stranger to anything that can happen.

50.	Does your cucumber taste bitter ? Let it
alone. Are there brambles in your way? Avoid
them then. Thus far you are well. But, then, do
not ask what does the world with such things as this,
for a natural philosopher would laugh at you. This
expostulation is just as wise as it would be to find
fault with a carpenter for having saw-dust, or a tailor
shreds in his shop. Yet they have places where to
bestow these. But universal nature has no place for
refuse out of herself, but the wondrous part of her art
is that though she is circumscribed, yet everything
within her that seems to grow old and moulder and
be good for nothing, she melts down into herself
and recoins in another figure, and thus she neither
wants any foreign substance or by-place to throw
the dross in, but is always abundantly furnished
with room, and matter, and art within herself.

51.	Be not heavy in business, nor disturbed in
conversation, nor rambling in your thoughts. Keep
your mind from running adrift, from sudden surprise
and transports, and do not overset yourself with too
much employment. Do men curse you ? Do they
threaten to kill and quarter you? How can this
prevent you from keeping your mind pure, wise,
temperate, and just ? It is much as if a man that
stands by a pure and lovely spring should fall a-railing
at it, the water never ceases bubbling up for all that;
and if you should throw in dirt or clay, it would
quickly disappear and disperse, and the fountain willMEDITATIONS.

*37

not be polluted. Whieh way now are you to go to
work, to keep your springs always running, that they
may never stagnate into a pool ? I will tell you :
you must always preserve in yourself the virtues of
freedom, of sincerity, sobriety, and good nature.

52.	He that is unacquainted with the nature of the
world, must be at a loss to know where he is. And
he that cannot tell the ends he was made for, is
ignorant both of himself and the world too. And he
that is uninstructed in either of these two points, will
never be able to know the design of his being.
What do you think then of his discretion, that is
anxious about what is said of him, and values either
the praise or the censure of those folks that know
neither where they are, nor who ?

53.	What! Are you so ambitious of a man's good
word, that curses himself thrice every hour ? Are
you so fond of being in their favour, that cannot keep
in their own ? And how can they be said to please
themselves, who repent of almost everything they do I

54.	Let your soul work in harmony with the
universal intelligence, as your breath does with the
air. This correspondence is very practicable, for
the intelligent power lies as open and pervious to
your mind, as the air you breathe does to your lungs,
if you can but draw it in.

55.	Wickedness generally does no harm to the
universe, so too in particular subjects, it does no harm
to any one. It is only a plague to him in whose
power it lies to be rid of it whenever he pleases.

56.	My will is as much my own as my constitu-i3»

MEDITATIONS.

tion; and no more concerned in the will of another
man, than my breath and body is in another man's.
For though we are born for the service of each other,
yet our liberty is independent. Otherwise my neigh-
bour's fault might be my misfortune. But God has
prevented this consequence, lest it should be in
another's power to make me unhappy.

57.	The sun is diffused, and bestows itself every-
where, but this seeming expense never exhausts it.
The reason is, because it is stretched like a thread,
and thus its beams have their name from extension.
As for the properties and philosophy of a ray, you
may observe them, if you like to let it into a dark
room through a narrow passage. Here you will see
it move in a straight line, till it is broken, and, as it
were, divided, by having its progress stopped by a
solid body; and here the light makes a stand, with-
out dropping or sliding off. Thus you should let
your sense shine out and diffuse, extended but not
exhausted ; and when you meet with opposition, never
strike violently against it, nor yet drop your talent in
despair. But let your beams be fixed, and enlighten
where they find a capacity. And as for that body
that will not transmit the light, it will but darken
itself by its resistance.

58.	He that dreads death is either afraid that his
senses will be extinguished or altered. Now, if you
have no faculties, you will have no feeling. But if you
have new perceptions, you will be another creature,
and will not cease to live.MEDITATIONS,

r39

59.	Men are born to be serviceable to one another,
therefore either reform the world or bear with it.

60.	Understanding does not always drive onward
like an arrow. The mind sometimes by making a
halt, and going round for advice, moves straight on
none the less, and hits the mark.

71. Look nicely into the thoughts of every one,
and give them the same freedom as your own.

267^WM^WWTrTHrWWWWT^wwwvH^wwwwvHww

BOOK IX.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWVS^WWWWWWWWBOOK IX.

|jNJTJSTICE is no less than high treason
against heaven. For since the nature
of the universe has made rational crea-
tures for mutual service and support,
but never to do anybody any harm,
since the case stands thus: he that crosses upon this
design is profane, and outrages the most ancient Deity;
so, too, does the liar outrage the same Deity. For the
nature of the universe is the cause of all that exists.
Thus all things are one family united, and, as it were,
of kin to each other. This nature is also styled truth,
as being the basis of first principles and certainty.
He, therefore, that tells a lie knowingly, is an irre-
ligious wretch, for by deceiving his neighbour he is
unjust to him. And he that is guilty of an untruth
out of ignorance is liable to the same charge, because
he dissents from the nature of the whole, brings dis-
order into the world, and opposes the nature of the
universe. Yes, and he opposes himself too, who is
borne to what is at variance with truth. By neglecting
the impulses he was born to, he has lost the test of truth,
and the distinction of right and wrong. Further,
he that reckons prosperity and pleasure among things144

MEDITATIONS.

really good, pain and hardship amongst thii)gs really
evil, can be no pious person ; for such a man will be
sure to complain of the administrations of Providence,
and charge it with mismatching fortune and merit.
He will often see evil people furnished with materials
for pleasure, and regaled with the relish of it, and good
men harassed and depressed, and meeting with nothing
but misfortune. Now, he that is afraid of pain
will be afraid of something that will always be in the
world; but this is a failure in reverence and respect.
On the other hand, he that is violei^t in the pursuit of
pleasure, will not hesitate to turn villain for the pur-
chase. And is not this plainly an ungodly act ? To
set the matter right, where the allowance of God is
equally clear, as it is with regard to prosperity and
adversity (for had He not approved both these con-
ditions, He would never have made them both), I
say, where the good liking of heaven is equally clear,
ours ought to be so too, because we ought to follow the
guidance of nature and the sense of the Deity. That
man, therefore, that does not comply with Providence
in the same indifference with respect to pleasure and
pain, life and death, honour and infamy, he that does
not this without struggling of passions, without un-
manageable preference or aversion, is no friend to the
Divine government.

By saying that universal nature or God stands
equally affected to these different dispensations, the
meaning is that they are both comprehended in the
general scheme, and equally consequent to the first
establishment. They were decreed by ProvidenceMEDITATIONS.

*45

from the beginning, and struck out with the lines of
the creation. Then it was that the plan of providence
was drawn, and the fate of futurity determined. Then
nature was made prolific, and enabled to bring forth
in due time. Then the whole stock of beings, the
revolutions of fortune, and the successions of time, were
all stated and set going.

2.	He is better bred and more a gentleman, that
takes leave of the world without a blot on his
scutcheon, and has nothing of falsehood and dissimu-
lation, of luxury or pride, to tarnish his character.
But when a man is once dipt in these vices, the next
best thing is for him to quit life. Have you deter-
mined, to abide with vice, and has not even experience
yet taught you to fly from the plague ? For the destruc-
tion of the understanding is a far worse plague than the
corruption and change of the air that surrounds us;
for the brute only suffers in the first case, but the man
in the other.

3.	Do not despise death, but accept it willingly;
look upon it as part of the product of nature, and one
of those things which providence has been pleased to
order. For such-as are youth and age, growth and
manhood, down and gray hairs, pregnancy and
birth, and all natural actions, and incidents of life,
so also is dying. A wise man, therefore, must
neither run giddily nor impatiently and contemptu-
ously into his grave. He must look upon death as
nature's business, and wait her leisure as he does for
the progress and maturity of other things ; for as you
wait for a child to come into the world when it is146

MEDITATIONS.

ready, so you should stay in the other case till things
are ripe, and your soul drops out of the husk of her
own accord. But if you stand in need of a vulgar
remedy to soothe the mind, consider, then, what sort
of world and what sort of customs you will be rid of!
It is true you are not to fall foul upon mankind, but to
treat them with kindness and gentleness. But still
you may remember that you will not be leaving men
just of your own mind and fancy. Such a unanimity
amongst mortals might reasonably recommend life,
and make us loth to part with it. But you perceive
that vast disturbances are bred by different opinions;
insomuch that now we ought rather to petition death
to make haste, for fear we too should forget our true
selves.

4.	He that commits a fault abroad is a trespasser
at home; and he that injures his neighbour, hurts
himself, for to make himself an evil man is a great
mischief.

5.	Omissions no less than commissions are often-
times part of in justice.

6.	If your judgment pronounces rightly, if your
actions are friendly and well meant, if your mind is
resigned to all that proceeds from the external cause
at this moment; if you are in possession of these
blessings, you are happy enough.

7.	Do not be imposed on by appearances; check
your impulses, and moderate your desire, and keep
your reason always in her own power.

8.	The souls of brutes are all of one kind, and so
are those of rational beings, though of a rational kindMEDITATIONS.

*47

And thus all living creatures that have occasion for
air, and earth, and light, are furnished with the same
kind, all that have the faculty of vision and life.

9. Things of the same common quality have a
tendency to their kind. Earthy bodies fall to. the
ground. One drop of moisture runs after another;
and thus air, where it is predominant, presses after
air, and nothing but force and violence can keep these
things asunder. Fire, likewise, mounts upwards on
account of its own element, fire, but it has such a
disposition to propagate its species and join every
other fire here below, that it catches easily upon all
fuel a little more dry than ordinary, because in
such the qualities opposite to ignition are weak and
disabled. Thus all beings which partake of the same
common intelligent nature have a natural instinct for
correspondence with their own kind; only with this
difference, that the higher anything stands in the
scale of being, the more it is inclined to communi-
cation with its own order. To illustrate the argument,
we find the force of nature very active amongst brute
animals, as appears by their running together in
herds and swarms according to kind ; by their pro-
viding for their young ones, and by that resem-
blance. of love which is carried on among them.
These animals have a soul in them, by consequence
their principle of union is more vigorous than in
plants, stones, and wood. To go on to reasonable
creatures, we may observe them united by public
counsels and.commonwealths, by particular friendships
and families, and in times of war they have truces148

MEDITATIONS.

and treaties. Farther, to instance a higher order,
the stars, though not neighbours in situation, move by
concert. Thus where things are more noble and
nature rises, sympathy ri^es too, and operates even
among distant objects. But now see what happens.
The rational creatures are the only beings which have
now forgotten this mutual desire and inclination, and
here alone this flowing together is not seen. But
though they run from their kind, they are brought
back again in some measure. For great is the power
of nature, and you shall sooner see a piece of earth re-
fuse to lie by its own element, than find any man so
perfectly unsociable as not to correspond with some-
body or other.

10.	God and men and the world all of them bear
fruit in their proper seasons. It is true, use has. re-
strained this signification to vines and treesbut this
custom apart, reason may properly enough be said to
bear fruit for itself and for the common good, espe-
cially if we consider that the fruit of the understanding
keeps close to its kind and resembles the stock.

11.	Give an injurious person good advice, and re-
form him if you can. If not, remember that your good
temper was given you for this trial; that the gods too
are so patient as even to pass by the perverseness of
such persons, and sometimes to assist them over and
above in their health, fame, and fortune ; so benign
are they. Just thus may you do if you please; if
not, where is the impediment ?

12.	Do not drudge like a galley slave, nor do busi-
ness in such a laborious manner as if you had a mindMEDITATIONS.

149

to be pitied or wondered at; but desire one thing
only, to move or halt as social reason shall direct you.

13.	To-day I rushed clear out of all misfortune, or
rather I threw misfortune from me ; for to speak truth,
it was not outside, nor ever any farther off than my
own fancy.

14.	All things are the same over again, and nothing
but what has been known to experience. They are
momentary in their lasting, and coarse in their
matter, and all things are now as they were in the
times of those we have buried.

15.	Things stand without doors and keep their dis-
tance, and neither know nor report any things about
themselves. What is it, then, that pronounces upon
them ? Nothing but your own ruling principle.

16.	As the good and evil of a rational, social
animal consist in action and not in feeling, so it is not
what they feel but what they do, which makes man-
kind either happy or miserable.

17.	It is all one to a stone whether it is thrown
upwards or downwards ; it is no harm for it to descend,
or good for it to mount.

18.	Examine into men's understandings, and you
will see what sort of judges even of themselves are
those whom you fear.

19.	All things are in a perpetual flux and a sort
of consumption ; you yourself are continually chang-
ing, and in a manner destroyed, and the whole world
keeps you company.

20.	Let everybody's fault lie at his own door.

21.	The intermission of action, and a stop in appe-MEDITATIONS.

tite and opinion, and even a kind of death upon the
faculties, is no harm. Go on now to the different
periods of life, and here you will find infancy, youth,
manhood, and old age, and one, as it were, the death
of another. And where lies the terror of all this ?
Proceed to your life in your grandfather's time, and to
that in your father's and mother's, and run over as
much ground in differences, changes, and decay as you
please, and ask yourself what grievance there is in
this, and you may conclude that ending and cessation
and alteration of your whole life will be no worse.

22.	Hasten to examine your own ruling principle,
and that of the universe, and that of your neighbour.
Your own, that you may keep it honest; that of the
universe, that you may know what y ox* are part of; your
neighbour s, that you may discover whether he acts
through ignorance or with knowledge ; and here you
should likewise remember that you are of kin to
him.

23.	As you are a member of society yourself, so
every action of yours should tend to the benefit and
improvement of it. So that when you do anything
which has neither immediate nor remote reference to
general advantage, you make a breach in your life,
destroy its unity, and are as really guilty of seditious
behaviour as a malcontent in an assembly, as far as
in him lies, disturbs the general harmony.

24.	Children's anger, mere baubles, wretched souls,
bearing up dead .bodies, so that the picture of the
underworld makes a more vivid impression.

25.	Penetrate the quality of forms, and take aMEDITATIONS.

view of them, abstracted from their matter ; and
when you have done this, compute the common
period of their duration.

26.	You have been a great sufferer for not being
contented with your guiding principle, when it does
what it was made for. But enough !

27.	When people treat you ill, blame your conduct,
or report anything to your disadvantage, enter into
the very soul of them ; examine their understandings,
and see of what nature they are. You will be fully
convinced that the opinion of such mortals is not
worth one troublesome thought. However, you must
be kind to them, for nature has made them your
relations. Besides, the gods give them all sort of
countenance, warn them by dreams and prophecy,
and help them to those things they have a mind
to. ;■ ;	' - ■ ' ' " ■/

28.	The periodic movements of the universe are
the same up and down from age to age. This un-
certain world is always rolling, and turning things
topsy-turvy. Now the soul of the universe either
pursues its course towards each particular, in which
case accept what it brings with it; or else it only
moved to create at first, and all things followed one
another by necessary consequence. But if neither of
these hypotheses will satisfy, you must set Epicurus's
atoms at the helm. In a word, if God governs, all
is well; but if things are left to themselves, and set
adrift, do not you float at random with them. We
shall quickly be all underground ; and ere long the
earth itself must be changed into something else,l52

MEDITATIONS.

and that something into. another form, and so on to
infinity. Now he that considers these everlasting
alterations, this constant tossing and tumbling, and
.how fast revolutions succeed each other, he will have
but a mean opinion of what the world can afford.

29.	The universal cause runs rapid like a torrent,
and sweeps all things along. What wretched states-
men are those counterfeits in virtue and philosophy !
Mere empty froth ! Hark you, friend ! let honesty
be served first. Do what nature requires of you.
Fall on, then, as occasion offers, and never look about
for commendation. However, I would not have you
expect Plato's Republic. As the world goes, a
moderate reformation is a great point, and therefore
rest contented; for who can change men's opinions !
And yet unless you can change their opinions, their
subjection will be all force and dissembling. Come
now ! tell me of Alexander, Philip, and Demetrius of
Phalerum. Men shall see whether they had a right
notion of the laws of nature, and whether they
educated themselves. If they acted like tragedy
heroes, no one has condemned me to imitate them.
Philosophy is a modest and simple profession, do not
entice me to insolence and pride.

30.	Fly your fancy into the clouds, and from this
imaginary height take a view of mortals here below.
What countless herds of men and countless solemnities!
What infinite variety of voyages in storm and calm !
What differences in the things that become, exist with
us, and perish ! Go on with the speculation, stretch
your thoughts over different aspects of the past andMEDITATIONS.

153

the future, and the present among barbarous nations;
how many are there that never heard your name,
how many that will quickly forget you, and how
many that admire you now will censure you after-
wards ? In short, memory and fame, and all those
things which are commonly so much valued, are of no
account at all.

31.	Keep a calm spirit towards things that proceed
from an external cause, and a just spirit towards those
that proceed from a cause within you ; that is, let
your impulse and action aim at the interest of . man-
kind, for then you know your faculties are in the right
posture that nature has set them.

32.	The greater part of your trouble lies in your
fancy, and therefore you may free yourself from it
when you please. I will tell you which way you may
move much more freely, and give yourself elbow-room.
Take the whole world into your contemplation, and
consider its eternal duration, and the swift change of
every single thing in it. Consider how near the end
of all things lies to their beginning ! But then the
ages before our birth and after our death are both
infinite and immeasurable.

33.	Whatever you see now will quickly decay and
disappear, and those that gaze upon the ruins of time
will, be buried under them. And then the longest
and the shortest liver will be both in the same
condition.

34.	If you would look within people, and discover
the objects they aim at, and their motives for liking
and respect, you must strip them to the soul if you*54

MEDITATIONS.

can. When they fancy that by commending or censur-
ing they do you a good or an ill turn, what a strange
conceit it is !

35.	Loss is nothing else than change. Things are
changed this way, it is true, but they do not perish.
Providence, by which all things are well contrived,
delights in these alterations. It has always been so
in the world, and always will be. What then? Will
you-say that all things were made ill by so many gods,
and must they always remain ill and lack order ?
And is nature indeed condemned to an everlasting
misfortune ?

36.	The materials of bodies, if you examine them,
are strangely coarse 5 those that are animated have
little in them but water, and dust, and bones, and
something that is offensive. And again, marble is no
more than a callous excrescence of the earth, nor gold
and silver any better than its dregs and sediment.
Fine cloths are nothing but hair twisted together.
Purple is but the blood of a little fish. And thus I
might proceed farther. And as for spirits, they are
somewhat of kin to the rest, and are chased from one
figure to another.

37.	Come! you have had enough of life, and
grumbling, and apishness; what makes you disturbed ?
What can you be surprised at ? What has happened
to you worse than you had reason to expect ? Does
cause or matter make you uneasy ? Look into
them', and you may probably be relieved. Now for
your comfort, besides these two natures, there is
no other. It is high time therefore to becomeMEDITATIONS.

*55

simple and behave better towards the gods. Three
years' time to peruse these things is as good as a
hundred.

38.	If such a man has done amiss, the mischief
is to himself ; and it may be, if you inquire, he has
not done it.

39.	Either all things proceed from one intelligent
source, who makes the world but one whole; and if so,
why should a part or single member complain of that
which is designed for the benefit of the whole ? Or
else we are under the misrule of atoms, and confu-
sion, and dispersion. Why then do you trouble
yourself Say to your ruling faculty, "You have
passed through death and corruption, and forms of
animals; and even now you are playing a part, herd-
ing and feeding with the rest."

40.	Either the gods have power to assist us, or they
have not. If they have not, what does praying to them
help you ? If they have, why do you not rather pray
that they would remove your fears and moderate your
desires, and rather keep you from grieving for any of
these things, than keep away one thing and grant an-
other ? For if the gods can help us, no doubt they
can help us to be wiser. But it may be you will say,
they have put this in my power. Why, then, do you
not make use of your talent, and act like a man of
spirit, and not run cringing and creeping after that
which is out of your reach ? But then who told you
that the gods do not assist us in things which we
might possibly compass by ourselves ? Begin, then,
to pray for such things, and you will see. For instance,

268MEDITATIONS.

this man prays that he may gain such a woman, but
do you rather pray that you may have no such inclina-
tion. Another invokes the gods to set him free from
some trouble ; but let it be your petition that your
mind may never put you upon such a wish. A third
is very devout to prevent the loss of his son ; but I
would have you pray rather against the fear of losing
him. Let this be the rule for your devotions, and see
if the event does not answer.

41.	" When I was sick," says Epicurus, " I did not
discourse to my visitors about my diseases, t>r the
torment I was troubled with. No, my system of
natural philosophy was part of my subject; and my
main concern was, that my mind, although it partakes
in these disturbances of the body, should remain calm,
and maintain its own good. I gave no handle to the
doctors to brag of their profession and what they did
for me, but held on with fortitude and indifference."
And when you are sick, or under any other disadvan-
tage, cannot you behave yourself as he did ? It is
practicable to all persuasions in philosophy to stand
their ground against all accidents, and not to join in
all the foolish talk of the ignorant, who are unac-
quainted with nature. We must always be prepared,
mind the thing at present before us, and the tools, too,
with which we are to work.

42.	When you are shocked by any man's impu-
dence, put this question to yourself: " Is it possible
for such impudent people not to be in the world ?"
No, indeed. Why, then, do you demand an impossi-
bility? For this ill-behaved fellow is one of thoseMEDITATIONS.

157

necessary rascals that the world cannot dispense
with. This reflection will furnish you with patience
for a knave, a faithless person, or any other evil body.
For when you consider that there is no living without
such men, you will treat them better individually;
and to fortify you further, consider what an antidote
nature has given you against this disease. For sup-
posing you have to do with a troublesome blockhead,
you have meekness and temper given you for your
guard, and so with the rest. It is likewise in your
power to inform the man better, and set him right;
for everyone that does an ill action is really out of his
way, and misses his mark, though he may not
know it. Besides, what harm have you received ?
If you examine the case, you will find none of
these provoking mortals have done your mind any
damage. Now that is the place in which what is
evil and harmful to you originates. Pray, where is the
wonder if an ignorant fellow acts ignorantly ? If you
expected other things from him, you are much to
blame. Your reason might make you conclude that
he would misbehave in this way, and yet, when that
which was most likely has happened, you seem sur-
prised at it. But especially if you accuse any man of
ingratitude and infidelity, the fault is your own, if
you believed that a man of this disposition would keep
faith, or else in conferring a favour you did not give
absolutely, for otherwise you would have been satisfied
with a generous action, and made virtue her own
reward. You have obliged a man, it is very well.
What would you have more? You have acted accord-<5*

MEDITATIONS.

ing to your own nature, and must you still have a
reward over and above ? This is just as if an eye or
a foot should demand a salary for their service, and
not see or move without something for their pains.
For as these organs are contrived for particular
functions, in performing which they pursue their
nature and attain their perfection, so man is made to
be kind and oblige. And, therefore, when he does a
good office, and proves serviceable to the world, he
has fulfilled the end of his being, and attains his own
reward.BOOK X.BOOK X.

MY soul, are you ever to be rightly
good, simple, and uniform, unmasked,
and made more visible to yourself
than the body that hangs about you ?
Are you ever likely to relish good
nature and general kindness as you ought ? Will you
ever be fully satisfied, get above want and wishing,
and never desire to seek your pleasure in anything
foreign, either living or inanimate ? Not desiring, I
say, either time for longer enjoyment nor place for
elbow-room, nor climate for good air, nor the music of
good company ? Can you be contented with your
present condition, and be pleased with all that is
about you, and be persuaded that you are fully fur-
nished, that all things are well with you ; for the gods
are at the head of the administration, and they will
approve of nothing but what is for the best, and tends
to the security and advantage of that good, righteous,
beautiful, and perfect being which generates and sup-
ports and surrounds all things, and embraces those
things which decay, that other resembling beings may
be made out of them ? In a word, are you ever likely
to be so happily qualified as to converse with the gods162

MEDITATIONS.

and men in such a manner as neither to complain of
them nor be condemned by them ?

2.	Examine what your nature requires, so far as
you have no other law to govern you. And when
you have looked into her inclinations never balk them,
unless your animal nature is likely to be worse for it.
Then you are to examine what your animal nature
demands; and here you may indulge your appetite as
far as you please, provided your rational nature does not
suffer by the liberty. Now, your rational nature
admits of nothing but what is serviceable to the rest
of mankind. Keep to these rules, and you will regard
nothing else.

3.	Whatever happens, either you have strength to
bear it, or you have not. If you have, exert your
nature, and never murmur at the matter. But if the
weight is too heavy for you, do not complain ; it will
crush you, and then destroy itself. And here you are
to remember that to think a thing tolerable and
endurable is the way to make it so if you do but
press it strongly on the grounds of interest or
duty.

4.	Is anyone mistaken? Undeceive him civilly,
and show him his oversight. But if you cannot con-
vince him, blame yourself, or not even yourself.

5.	"Whatever happens to you was pre-ordained
your lot from the first; and that chain of causes which
constitutes fate, tied your person and the event to-
gether from all eternity.

6.	Whether atoms or nature rule the world I lay
it down in the first place, that I am part of thatMEDITATIONS.

163

whole which is all under nature's government.
Secondly, I am in some measure related to those
beings which are of my own order and species. These
points being agreed, I shall apply them. Insomuch
then as I am a part of the universe, I shall never be
displeased with the general appointment; for that can
never be prejudicial to the part which is service-
able to the whole, since the universe contains no-
thing but what is serviceable to it. For the nature
of no being is an enemy to itself. But the world has
this advantage above other particular beings, that
there is no foreign power to force it to produce anything
hurtful to itself. Since, therefore, I am a member of
so magnificent a body, I shall freely acquiesce in
whatever happens to me. Farther, inasmuch as I
have a particular relation to my own species, I will
never do anything against the common interest. On
the other hand, I shall make it my business to oblige
mankind, direct my whole life for the advantage of
the public, and avoid the contrary. And by holding
to this conduct, I must be happy, as that citizen
must needs be who is always working for the benefit
of his fellow-citizens, and perfectly satisfied with that
interest and station the government assigns him.

7. All the parts of the whole that lie within the
compass of the universe must of necessity corrupt and
decay; by corruption I mean only alteration. Now
if this be an evil and a necessary one, by consequence
the whole of nature must be in a bad condition, by
having the parts so slenderly put together, and so very
liable to destruction. And if the case stands thus,164

ME BIT A TIONS.

nature must either design unkindness to the parts of
her own body, by making them subject to unavoidable
evil in doing or receiving, or else have these things
come about without her knowledge. But both these
suppositions are highly improbable. Now if any man
has a mind to drop the term Nature, and affirm that
these things are naturally produced, he that affirms this
does but expose himself, by granting in the first place
that the parts of the universe are made for alteration,
and then wondering and complaining, as if such
accidents were unnatural and 'extraordinary, especially
since things do but return whence they came, and are
dissolved into their first principles. For either the
elements are scattered at large, or else that which is solid
turns to earth, and the particles of air join their own
element; and thus they are received into the rational
substance of the universe, which will either be destroyed
by fire after a certain period, or else be renewed by
perpetual vicissitudes. Now I would not have you
think that those particles of earth or air which you
have now in your constitution are the same with
those you brought into the world with you. The
matter which now belongs to you is as it were but of
yesterday's growth or of the day before, and you have
taken it all in by food, or the air you breathe, and
therefore the alterations in your body do not rob you
of the flesh and blood you had from your mother, but
only of some later additions. But suppose the same
body you were born with is so closely connected with
that other, this is no objection to the former state-
ment.MEDITATIONS,

8. When you have given yourself the titles of a
man of goodness and modesty, of truth and prudence,
of resignation and magnanimity, take care that your
practice answers to your character, and if any of these
glorious names are lost in your mismanagement,
recover them as soon as you can: remembering
withal, that prudence implies consideration, care, and
discriminating enquiry; that to be resigned signifies a
cheerful compliance with the allotments of universal
nature; that magnanimity imports a superiority of
the reasoning part to the pleasure and pain of the
body to glory and death, and all those things which
people are either fond or afraid of. Now if you can
deserve the honour of these names, do not desire
them from other folks ; you will be quite another man,
and will enter into a new life, and indeed it is high
time to begin; for to desire to go on at this rate, to
be polluted with appetite, and harassed with passion
any longer, is a senseless and a scandalous wish. It
resembles the meanness of those poor wretches in the
amphitheatre, who when they are half devoured, and
have nothing but wounds left them, beg notwithstand-
ing to be respited till the morrow; though they know
they will only be thrown again to the same claws
and teeth that tore them before. Work into the
soul of you these few names of credit, and if you
find you can abide by them, stand your ground, and
think yourself transported to the fortunate islands.
But if you perceive that you are overmatched, and
begin to give way, retire cheerfully into some quiet
nook, where you may manage better. And if thisMEDITATIONS.

will not do, you may give life the slip, but do this
without anger. Walk simply, gravely, and freely
into the other world, and thus the last action of your
life will be the only one worth the owning. And to
remember those good qualities above mentioned the
more effectually, you should remember the gods, and
that they had much rather that all rational natures
should resemble than flatter them, that trees are
distinguished by their fruit, dogs and bees by the
qualities proper to their kind, and men too by the
appellation of mankind.

9.	Plays, warfare, terror, torpor, servility, will daily
wear away these holy principles of yours, which in
your studv of nature you hastily conceive and let go
again. Upon all occasions you should look and act
in such a manner as to omit neither the perfect
performance of business nor the activity of thinking,
to be modest in the consciousness of your improve-
ment, but not so far as to undervalue your knowledge,
and keep it out of sight. When will you relish
simplicity ? when gravity ? When will you be able
to understand everything, to pronounce upon its
nature and its place in the universe; to calculate
its continuance, and the ingredients it is made up
of, who are likely to- be affected by it, and what
powers they are which can both give and take it
away ?

10.	A spider when it has caught a fly thinks it
has done some great deed, and so does a sportsman
when he has run down a hare, and a fisherman too
when he has caught a sprat in a net. Some othersMEDITATIONS,

167

must kill boars or bears before they can grow con
ceited; and a fourth sort value themselves upon
hunting Sarmatians ; though it maybe in this last
case, if you go to the definition of robbing, the
one are as much thieves as the other.

11.	Observe the steps, and continually study the
history of nature, and trace the progress of bodies
from one form and species to another; contemplate
often upon this subject, for there is nothing contributes
so much to greatness of mind. He that is rightly
affected with this speculation has in a manner laid his
body aside. He considers that this world will quickly
be over with him, that he must take his leave of man-
kind and everything here. In consequence of these
thoughts, he is all justice in his acts, and resignation
in all else. And as for what people will say or think
of him, or practise against him, he never minds it.
He has but two points to secure—that is, to be honest
in what he now does, and contented with what he now
receives. As for other projects and fancies, he has
done with them. His business is only to follow that
straight path which law has chalked out for him, for in
so doing he has the Deity for his guide.

12.	Why need you be anxious about the event
when you may examine the enterprise, and debate the
reasonableness of it ? If you find it practicable, go on
contented, and let nothing divert you. But if you
cannot see your way, make a halt, and take the best
advice upon the case. And if you happen to be
stopped by some new emergency, make the most of
what is in your power with due consideration, and168

MEDITATIONS.

always stick to what appears j ust; for after all, that
is the best thing to get. For though the grand
design may not succeed, yet your failure arose from
attempting this. The man who follows reason in all
things is calm, and yet easily moved, cheerful, and
yet grave.

13.	When you are first awake you may put this
question: whether another man's virtue will signify any-
thing to you in doing your business ? No, it will signify
nothing. And do not forget what sort of men those are
which value themselves so much upon the good or ill
character they give their neighbours. How scandal-
ously do they live ? How are they overgrown with
luxury and vice ? How foolish are their fancies, and
how unreasonable their fears ? See how they steal
and rob, not with hands and feet, but with their most
valuable part, which, if a man pleases, can produce
fidelity, modesty, truth, law, happiness.

14.	He that is truly disciplined and reverent will
address nature in this language : " Give me what you
please, and take what you please away." And there
is not the least tincture of vanity in this, but it pro-
ceeds wholly from obedience and satisfaction with her.

15.	Your time is almost over, therefore live as if
you were on a mountain. Place signifies nothing, if
you live everywhere in the world as in a social com-
munity. Never run into a hole, and shun company.
No. Let the world see and recognise in you an
honest man who lives according to nature; and if they
do not like him, let them kill him, for it is much
better he were served so, than to live as they do.MEDITATIONS,

169

16.	Spend no more time in stating tlie quali-
fications of a man of virtue, but endeavour to get
them.

17.	Take the whole bulk of matter and all the
extent of time frequently into your thoughts. And
then consider that all particular bodies are but a grain
in the proportion of substance, and but the turning a
gimlet in respect of time.

18.	Examine all things closely, and you will find
them already decaying and changing, and, as it were,
rotting or dispersing, or else things are made as it were
to be unmade again.

19.	Consider what an humble figure people make
when they are eating or sleeping. But then when
they put on lordly airs, and strut about, or grow angry,
and abuse their inferiors from an altitude ! And yet
how many little masters did they lately cringe to,
how mean was their salary, and what a sorry con-
dition will they come to in a short time ?

20.	That is best for every man which universal
nature sends him; and the time of sending too is
also a circumstance of advantage.

21.	The earth, as the poet has it, loves the re-
freshment of a shower, and the lQfty ether loves the
earth. And the world loves to execute the decrees of
fate; and therefore, say I to the universe, your in-
clinations and mine shall always be the same. And
do we not often say : This loves to be produced ?

22.	Either you will take the benefit of custom, and
continue to live, or you cut yourself off from the world;
and this, too, was your wish; or you cease to live, thenMEDITATIONS.

death will give you your discharge. One of these cases
must happen, therefore be not discouraged.

23.	Take it for a rule that this piece of land is
like any other, and that all things here are the same
as on the top of a mountain, or by the sea-shore, or
where you will. In this case, as Plato observes, the
walls of a town and the inclosure of a sheepfold may
be much the same thing.

24.	How does my guiding principle stand affected ?
To what condition am I now bringing it, and to what
uses do I put it ? Does thought run low with me ?
Am I grown selfish, and broken loose from the general
interest ? Is my soul as it were melted and mingled
with the body, and perfectly governed by it ?

25.	He that runs away from his master is a
fugitive ; now the law is every man's master, and
therefore he that transgresses it is a deserter. And
all those that are dissatisfied, angry, and uneasy, desire
that something past, present, or future should not be,
of that which was appointed by the ruler of all, which
is justice, and which gives every one his due, and
break through the orders of Providence. Thus he
who is dissatisfied, or angry, or uneasy, is a deserter.

26.	A man deposits seed in a womb, and then
another cause takes it and works on it, and makes a
child. What a thing from such a material ! Again
the child passes food down its throat, and again
another cause takes it, and makes perception and
motion, life and strength, and other things, both many
and strange ! Observe then the things that are thus
produced in darkness, and recognise the power just asMEDITATIONS.

we perceive the power which carries things upwards
and downwards, not with the eyes, but no less
plainly.

27.	You will do well to remember that the world
is just as it was formerly, and will go on at the same
rate. If you either dip into history, or recollect your
own experience, you will perceive the scenes of life
strangely uniform, and nothing but the old plays
revived. Take a view of the courts of Hadrian,
Antoninus Pius, of Philip, of Alexander, or Croesus,
and you will find the entertainment the same, only
the actors are different.

28.	He that struggles with his fortune, and makes
an affliction of it, is much like a pig that kicks and
cries out when his throat is cutting; and he that,
when he is sick, mourns to himself over the bonds in
which we are held, is not much better. We should
consider that none but rational creatures have the
privilege of making necessity a choice; merely to
submit is what all are compelled to do.

29.	Consider the satisfactions of life singly, and
examine them as they come up, and then ask yourself
if death is so terrible in taking them from you.

30.	When anybody's misbehaviour disturbs you,
immediately turn to yourself and bethink you whether
you have not been guilty of the same fault; for
instance, whether you have not over-valued money,
or pleasure, or fame, or the like. Such reflections
will quickly make you forget your anger, especially if
you consider that the offender was not altogether his
own man, but under some untoward compulsion. For

269I?2

MEDITATIONS.

what else could he do ? Therefore, if you can, step
in to the rescue and free him from the compulsion.

31. When you consider Satyrion the Socratic,
think upon Eutyches or Hymen; and when you
remember Euphrates, think upon Eutychion or Syl-
vanus; and when Alciphron comes into your head,
carry your thoughts to Tropaeophorus ; and when you
are musing upon Xenophon, let Orito or Severus come
into the contemplation; and when you make yourself
the subject of your meditations, bring some of the
emperors, your predecessors, into your company ; and
thus set the dead and the living of the same character
and profession always one against another; then ask
the question : Where are those men ? The answer will
be: They are nowhere, or at least nowhere that I
know of. Thus you will be strongly convinced that
men are but smoke and bubbles; and this impression
will go the deeper if you consider that what is once
perished and sunk will never come up again through-
out the ages. As for your share of time, it is
but a moment in comparison. Why then cannot you
manage that little well and be satisfied ? What a
noble opportunity of improvement do you run away
from ? For what are all the revolutions of nature,
and the accidents of life, but trials of skill and
exercises of reason that has looked through the
causes of things carefully and philosophically. Go en
then till you have digested all this and conquered the
difficulty, for I would have you be like a strong
stomach, that masters all sort of diet, and makes
nourishment of it; or if you please, like a fire wellMEDITATIONS.

173

kindled, which catches at everything you throw in,
and turns it into flame and brightness.

32.	Put it out of the power of any one truly to
report you not to be a sincere or a good man; let your
practice give him the lie; this is all very feasible,
for pray who can hinder you from being just and
sincere? To make all sure, you should resolve to live
no longer than you can live honestly; for, in earnest,
reason would rather you were nothing than a knave.

33.	\yhat is it that is most proper to be said or
done upon the present occasion ? Let it be what it
will, I am sure it is in your power to perform it, and
therefore never pretend it impracticable. You will
never leave grumbling till you can practise virtue with
a relish, and make it your pleasure to perform those
acts that are suited to the constitution of a human
being ; for a man ought to hold it a pleasure to do
everything that is suitable to his nature, and that is
in his power. Now this is in his power everywhere.
The motion of a cylinder may be stopped, fire and
water may be checked in their tendency, and so may
any part of the vegetable and animal world. In this
case a great many obstructions may interpose, but
there is nothing can block up a soul, stop the course
of reason, or hinder a thought from running in its
natural channel as it pleases. He that considers the
irresistible liberty of-the mind, that she moves as easily
as fire does upwards, as a stone downwards, as a
cylinder on a smooth descent, seeks nothing farther;
for all other impediments proceed either from the
body, which is really a corpse, or else they are founded174

MEDITATIONS.

in opinion, and unless we betray ourselves, and desert
our reason, can do us no manner of mischief; other-
wise, ill fortune, as it is commonly called, would
make a man ill, for all other productions of nature
or art, when any harm happens to them, are certainly
the worse for it, but here a man is, so to speak,
the better for what he suffers; he improves his
value and raises his character by making a right use
of a rugged accident. In short, I would have you
remember, that no citizen can receive any damage by
that which does not affect the community, neither
can the community suffer unless the laws suffer too ;
but these misfortunes, as they are called, do not violate
the laws, therefore they do not hurt the community,
nor by consequence the citizen.

34. .He that is well tinctured with philosophy
needs but a short receipt, a common cordial will keep
up such a man's spirits and expel fear from his heart.
For instance-—

" As leaves on trees the race of man is found,

Now green in youth, now withering on the ground."

So your children are but leaves. Leaves, too, are the
echoes of praise, and censure, and silent blame, and
reproach. Leaves, too, are the continuance of fame. All
these matters, like leaves, have their spring for growing,
then a puff of wind sends tKem packing, and quickly
after the wood is new furnished again. Things are
strangely short-lived, and yet you fear and pursue
them as if all were everlasting, but for all that, you
will soon close your eyes, and then he that is your
chief mourner will quickly want another for himself.MEDITATIONS.

175

35.	An eye that is strong and rightly disposed is
indifferent to all colours, therefore if it calls for green,
it is a sign it is weak and out of order. Thus when
the hearing and smelling are in good condition, they
do not pick and choose their objects, but take in all
manner of scents and sounds. Thus a strong stomach
despatches all that comes into it, like a mill that
grinds all sorts of grain. And thus a mind that is
sound and healthy is prepared to digest all sorts of
accidents, and therefore when it is clamorous in such
wishes as these : " 0 that my children may live and
flourish, that I may be commended for everything I
do !" when the mind, I say, is thus sickly, it is just
like an eye that is all for green colours, and like a set
of teeth that would touch nothing by their good will
but soft things.

36.	There is nobody so happy in his family and
friends, but that some of them when they see him
going will rejoice at his death. Let him be a person
of probity and prudence, somebody or other will drop
some of these sentences over his grave. " Well! our
man of order and gravity is gone, we shall now be no
more troubled with his discipline ! I cannot say he
was ill-natured to any of us, but for all that, I am
sensible he condemned us in his heart." This is the
best treatment a good man must expect. But alas !
as for our conduct, how many reasons will people
muster up to be rid of us ! If you consider this when
you are dying, you will quit life with the less reluct-
ance. Say then to yourself, " I am leaving an odd
sort of world, where the sharers in my fortune, and thei7 6

MEDITATIONS.

objects of my care and kindness, those people for whom
I have drudged and contrived, and wished so heartily,
count my life no better than a grievance, and would
fain be rid of me; now who would be fond of staying
in such company any longer ?" However, this
thought must not go so deep as to sour your humour.
You must keep your temper, and part friendly with
every body, but then your good nature must not make
you hang back. For as when a man has an easy
death, the soul slides gently out of the body, so you
must walk off handsomely, and bid the world adieu
without regret. It is true, nature has twisted your
interests, and tied you together, but now she loosens
the knot, and makes the sign to disengage. I will
part then with the world as with my friends and
relations, but for all my kindness I will not be dragged
from them but go of my free will. For this too is
ordained by nature.

37.	Letf it be your constant method to look into
the design of people's actions, and see what they
would be at, as often as it is practicable; and to
make this custom the more significant, practise it
first upon yourself.

38.	Remember that what pulls and hales you from
one passion to another, is but your fancy within you.
There lies the rhetoric that persuades you. That is
the live thing, and to speak plainly, that is the man,
after all. But when you talk of a man, I would not
have you tack flesh and blood to the notion, nor those
limbs neither which are made out of it. These are
but tools for the soul to work with. Now the onlyMEDITATIONS.

177

difference is that nature has glued them as it were to
the soul, but the use of them depends solely upon the
mind. It is the will that either checks or sets them
going. They have but the force of instruments, and
signify no more without foreign direction, than a
shuttle, a pen, or a whip, which will neither weave,
nor write, nor lash the horses, without somebody to
manage them.T^WTMrTHfwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

BOOK XI.BOOK XL

| HE properties of a rational soul are
these. She has the privilege to look
into her own nature, to cut out her
qualities and form herself to what
character she pleases. She enjoys
her product (whereas trees and cattle bring plenty for
other folks). Whether life proves long or short, she
gains the ends of living. Her business is never spoilt
by interruption, as it happens in a dance or a play.
In every part and in spite of every interruption, her
acts are always finished and entire ; so that she may say:
I carry off all that belongs to me. Farther, she ranges
through the whole worJd, views its figure, looks into
the vacuum on the outside of it, and strains her sight on
to an immeasurable length of time. She contemplates
the grand revolutions of nature, and the destruction
and renewal of the universe at certain periods. She
considers that there will be nothing new for posterity
to gaze at; and that our ancestors stood upon the
same level for observation; in so much that in forty
years' time a tolerable genius for sense and enquiry
may acquaint himself with all that is past and all that
is to come by reason of the uniformity of all things.182

MEDITATIONS.

Lastly, it is the property of a rational soul to love her
neighbours, to be remarkable for truth and sobriety,
to prefer nothing to her own dignity and authority,
which has likewise the custom and prerogative of a
law ; and thus far right reason and rational justice are
the same.

2.	The way to despise the pleasure of a fine song,
a well-performed dance, or the athletic exercises, is as
follows : as for the song, take the music in pieces
and examine the notes by themselves, and ask as you
go along, " Is it this or this single sound, that has
subdued me V You will be ashamed to confess the
conquest. Thus, to lessen the diversion of dancing,
consider every movement and gesture apart; and this
method will hold with respect to athletic contests.
In short, air things but virtue and virtuous acts abate
by taking them asunder, and, therefore, apply the
expedient to all other parts of your life.

3.	What a brave soul is that that is always pre-
pared to leave the body and unconcerned about her
being either extinguished, scattered, or removed—pre-
pared, I say, upon judgment, and not out of mere
obstinacy like the Christians—but with a solemn air of
gravity and consideration, and in a way to persuade
another and without tragic show.

4.	Have I obliged anybody, or done the world any
service ? If so, the action has rewarded me. This
answer will encourage good nature, therefore let it.
always be at hand.

5.	What may your trade or profession be ? It is
to live like a man of virtue and probity. And howMEDITATIONS.

183

can this end be compassed, but by the contemplation
of the nature of the world and of mankind in par-
ticular.

6. As to dramatic performances, tragedy appeared
first. The design of them was to show that the mis-
fortunes of life were customary and common, and that
what attracted them upon the stage, might surprise
them the less when they met with it on the larger
stage of the world. Thus people see that these
events must happen, and that even those who cry out,
" 0 Cithaeron" cannot stand clear of them. And to
give the stage-poets their due, they have some service-
able passages, as, for instance,

" If I and mine are by the gods neglected,

There's reason for their rigour."

Again—

" Ne'er fret at accidents, for things are sullen,

And don't regard your anger;"

Once more—

" Fate mows down life like corn, this mortal falls,
Another stands a while."

And others like them. Next to tragedy, old comedy
took a turn upon the stage; and here pride and am-
bition were lashed and pointed at with great freedom
and authority, and not without some success; and for
this reason, Diogenes sometimes borrowed from them.
You are now to observe that middle comedy succeeded
to the old, and the new to the middle, this last kind
sinking by degrees to the buffoonery of the mirni. It184

MEDITATIONS,

is true, there are softie useful expressions to be met
with even here; but then you are to consider the
tendency of the whole poetic art, and whether these
dramatic diversions drive at any aim.

7.	Nothing is clearer to me than that the present
state of your life is as good for philosophy and im-
provement as any other whatsoever.

8.	A bough by being lopped off from another, must
of necessity be lopped from the whole tree ; thus a
man that breaks with another loses the benefit of the
whole community. It is true a bough is lopped off
by a foreign hand, but the man pulls himself asunder
by his untoward aversion and hatred to his neighbour.
He little thinks how he disincorporates himself by this
unhappy division from the body of mankind ! And
here the goodness of God who founded this society is
extraordinary. He has put it in our power to grow to
the limb we left, and come again into the advantage
of the main body. But if this misfortune is often
repeated, it will be a hard matter to restore the part
and close the division. For, as gardeners observe, a
bough cut off and grafted in again is not in the same
good condition with another which always flourished
upon the trunk. We*should be one in growth, though
not in sympathy.

9.	People's malice or impertinence cannot beat you
off your reason, or stop your progress in virtue. Be
not then disconcerted, nor check your good nature to-
wards them. If you meet with opposition and ill-
will, you must neither be diverted nor disturbed, but
keep your right judgment and action and your temperMEDITATIONS.

too towards people who try to hinder you or otherwise
annoy you. For as it is a weakness to give in from
fear and be diverted from your conduct, so it is
likewise to be angry with impertinent people. They
are both a sort of deserters from Providence, who are
either frightened from their duty, or fall out with
those of their own nature and family.

10.	Nature falls short of art in no instance, art
being but an imitation of nature; and if so, the most
perfect and all-embracing nature cannot be supposed to
work with less skill than a common artificer. Now,
in all arts the less in value are contrived for the sake
of the greater. This, therefore, is the method of
universal nature, and upon this ground justice is
founded. The other virtues are but acts of justice
differently applied. But just we can never be if we
are eager and anxious about external advantages, if we
are apt to be led astray and grow over-hasty, and in-
constant in our motion.

11.	Aversions and desires are the general occasions
of disturbance. Now since the objects of these pas-
sions do not press upon you, but it is you that make
up to them in some measure, you should let your
opinion about them lie still, and they too will keep
still, and then you will neither be seen pursuing nor
avoiding them any longer.

12.	The figure of the soul is then round and uni-
form, when she neither reaches after anything foreign,
nor shrinks into herself, nor is dispersed or sunk in,
but shines in the light by which she surveys the truth
of all things and of herself too.i86

MEDITATIONS.

13.	Does anyone despise me? It is his look-out.
I will take care not to give him any reason for his con-
tempt by my words and acts. Does anyone hate me ?
Tt is his look-out. I will continue kind and good-
humoured to all the world, even to the injurious per-
son himself. I am always ready to show him his error
without abuse, or making a display of my own
patience, but frankly, and with cordial sincerity, as
Phocion did, unless indeed this was" put on. Indeed
your mind should always be so disposed, that the gods
may examine you, and perceive that you are neither
angry nor uneasy at anything. Now, if you follow
the current of your nature of your own free will, and
accept that which is now suitable to the universal
nature, where is the harm in it, when you know you
were made on purpose to comply with the interest of
the universe ?

14.	People generally despise where they flatter,
and cringe to those they would gladly overtop.

15.	How fulsome and hollow does that man look that
cries, "I'm resolved to deal straightforwardly with you."
Hark you, friend, what need of all this flourish ? Let
your actions speak ; your face ought to vouch for your
speech. I would have virtue look out of the eye, no
less apparently than love does in the sight of the
beloved. I would have honesty and sincerity so incor-
porated with the constitution, that it should be dis-
coverable by the senses, and as easily distinguished as
a strong breath, so that a man must be forced to find it
out whether he would or no. But on the other side
an affectation of sincerity is a very dagger. NothingMEDITATIONS.

187

is more scandalous than false friendship, and, there-
fore, of all things avoid it. In shoi't, a man of in-
tegrity, sincerity, and good-nature can never be
concealed, for his character is wrought into his
countenance.

16.	To bestow no more upon objects than they
deserve; and where things are indifferent, to let our
thoughts be so too, is a noble expedient for happiness,
and this faculty we have in our souls. The way to
attain to this indifference is to look through matters,
and take them quite asunder, remembering always
that things cannot ^nter into the soul, nor force upon
us any opinions about them ; they are quiet. It is
our fancy that makes opinions about them ; it is we
that write within ourselves, though it is in our power
not to write. And if any false colours are laid on by
surprise, we may rub them out if we please. We are
likewise to consider that this trouble will not last,
that death will relieve us soon. Where, then, is the
difficulty of standing upon our guard a little while 1
If these things are in accordance with nature, bid
them heartily welcome, and then your inclination will
make you easy ; but if they prove contrary to nature,
look out for something that is more serviceable to your
nature, and pursue that, even if it bring you no glory.
For certainly every man may make himself happy if
he can.

17.	Consider the original of all things, the matter
they are made of, the alterations they must run
through, and the result of the change. And that all
this does no manner of harm.

270188

MEDITATIONS.

18. Concerning those that offend, consider in the
first place, the relation you stand in towards men,
and that we are all made for each other. And for my
own part I am particularly set at the head of the world,
like a ram over a flock, or a bull over a herd. You
may go higher in your reasoning, if you please, and
consider that either atoms or nature governs the
universe. If the latter, then the coarser parts of the
creation were made for the service, of their betters ;
and these last for the sake of each other.

Secondly. Consider what men are at bed and board,
and at other times ; especially you should remember
what strong compulsion of opinion they lie under, and
with what pride they perform their acts.

Thirdly. Consider that if those men are in the
right, you have no reason to be angry; but if they
are in the wrong, it is because they know no better.
They are under the necessity of their own ignorance.
For as no soul is voluntarily deprived of truth, so
nobody would offend against good manners, if they
were rightly aware of it. And thus we see people
will not endure the charge of injustice, ingratitude,
selfishness, or knavery of any description, without
being stung at the imputation. .

Fourthly. Do not forget you are like the rest of
the world, and faulty yourself in a great many in-
stances : that though you may forbear from some errors,
it is not for want of inclination, and that nothing
but cowardice, vanity, or some such base principle
hinders you from sinning.

Fifthly. That it is sometimes a hard matter to beMEDITATIONS.

certain whether men do wrong, for their actions often
are done with a reference to circumstances; and one
must be thoroughly informed of a great many things
before he can be rightly qualified to give judgment in
the case.

Sixthly, When you are most angry and vexed
remember that human life lasts but a moment, and
that we shall all of us very quickly be laid in our
graves.

Seventhly, Consider that it is not other people's
actions (for they are lodged in their ruling principles),
which disturb us, but only our own opinions about them.
Do but then dismiss these notions, and do not fancy
the thing a grievance, and your passion will have
ceased immediately. But how can this fancy be dis-
charged ? By considering that bare suffering has no
infamy in it. Now unless you restrain the notion of
evil to what is disgraceful, you will be under a
necessity of doing a great many unwarrantable things,
and become a robber and a villain generally.

Eighthly, Consider that our anger and impatience
often prove much more mischievous than the things
about which we are angry or impatient.

Ninthly, That gentleness is invincible, provided it
is of the right stamp, without anything of hypocrisy
or malice. This is the way to disarm the most
insolent, if you continue kind and unmoved under
ill usage, if you strike in with the right opportunity
for advice. If when he is going to do you an ill turn
you endeavour to recover his understanding, and re-
trieve his temper by such language as this: I pray190

MEDITATIONS,

you, child, be quiet, men were never made to worry
one another. I shall not be injured, but you are
injuring yourself, child. Then proceed to illustrate
the point by general and inoffensive arguments.
Show him that it is not the custom of bees to spend
their stings upon their own kind, nor of cattle whose
nature it is to dwell in herds. And let all this be
done out of mere love and kindness, without any
irony or scorn. Do not seem to lecture him or
court the audience for commendation, but discourse
him either alone, and if others are present, as if there
was nobody but himself.

Lay up these nine heads in your memory with as
much care as if they were a present from the nine
muses, for now it is high time to begin to be a man
for your lifetime. And here you must guard against
flattery, as well as anger, for these are both unsocial
qualities, and do a great deal^of mischief. Remember,
always, when you are angry, that rage is the mark of
an unmanly disposition. Mildness and temper are
not onty more human, but more masculine too. One
thus affected appears much more brave, and firm, and
manly than one that is vexed and angry. For he
that has the least passion in these cases has always
the most strength. On the other hand, as grief is a
sign of weakness, so is anger too. A man is wounded
in both these passions, and the smart is too big for him.

As you have received these nine precepts from the
Muses, take this tenth if you please, from their leader,
Apollo: That to wish that ill people may not do ill
things is to wish an impossibility, and no better thanMEDITATIONS.

191

madness. But then to give them leave to plague
other folks, and desire to be privileged yourself, is a
foolish and insolent expectation.

19.	There are tour evil qualities we must be particu-
larly careful to avoid, and pull them up as fast as we
find them, and address them as they rise in this
fashion. " This fancy," say, " is unnecessary; this
rough behaviour destroys society ; this phrase I cannot
say from my heart. Now this is most absurd, not
to speak from your heart." These are three of them ;
and when you shall reproach yourself for anything,
since this degrades the diviner part of you, makes
your mind truckle to^your body, and your reason to
your pleasures, look upon that as the fourth.

20.	Those particles of fire and air which are lodged
in your body, notwithstanding their tendency to mount,
submit to the laws of the universe, and keep the rest
of the elements company. Again, the earthy and
watery parts in you, though they naturally press down-
wards, are raised above their level, and stand poised
in an unnatural position; thus the elements serve the
interest of the world. For when they have been fixed
anywhere they keep their post till the signal is
given to separate. And is it not then a scandalous
thing that your mind should be the only deserter,
and grow mutinous about her station, especially when
her orders agree with her constitution, and nothing
that is unnatural is enjoined ? And yet she will not
bear the conduct of her own faculties, but runs perfectly
counter to humanity. For when a man turns knave
or libertine, when he gives way to fears and anger192

MEDITATIONS.

and fits of the spleen, he does as it were run away from
himself and desert his own nature; and further, when
his mind complains of his fortune it quits the station
in which Providence has placed it; for acquiescence
and piety are no less its duty than honesty ; for these
virtues tend to the common interest, and are rather of
greater antiquity and value than justice.

21.	He that does not always drive at the same end
in his life will never be uniform and of a piece in his
conduct. But this hint is too short, unless you
describe the quality that we ought principally to aim
at. Now as people do not agree in the preferences of
the things that in some way seem good to the many,
unless in what relates to the common good, so a man
ought to propose the benefit of society and the general
interest of the world as his main aim. For he that
levels at this mark will keep an even hand, and thus
be always consistent with himself.

22.	Remember the story of the country and the
town mouse, and how pitifully the former was
frightened and surprised.

23.	Socrates used to say the common objects of
terror were nothing but bogies, fit only to scare
children.

24.	The Lacedaemonians, at their public shows,
seated strangers under a canopy in the shade, but
made their own pe6|>l0 take their convenience as they
found it.

25.	Socrates, being invited to Perdiccas's court,
made his excuse :—I dare not come, says he, for fear
of being put under an incapacity of returning anMEDITATIONS.

i93

obligation, which I take to be the worst way of
destroying a man imaginable.

26.	It is a precept of the Ephesian philosophers,
that we should always furnish our memory with some
eminent example of ancient virtue.

27.	The Pythagoreans would have us look up into
the sky every morning, to put us in mind of the order
and constancy of the heavenly bodies, of the equality
and purity of their matter, and how frankly they lie
open to observation; for a star never wears a veil.

28.	Remember how unconcernedly Socrates wore a
sheepskin, when Xanthippe had got his coat on,
and ran out Ttfith it. And how well he laughed off
the matter to his friends, who were strangely out of
countenance by seeing him in such a disguise.

29.	People do not pretend to teach others to write
and read till they have been taught themselves; this
rule holds much more of life.

30.	Be dumb.; slaves have not the privilege of
speaking.

31.	" And my heart laughed within/'

32.. "And virtue they will curse, speaking hard
words."

33.	He is a madman that expects figs on the trees
in winter; and he is little better that calls for his
children again when they are dead and buried.

34.	Epictetus would have a man when he is kiss-
ing and caressing his child, say to himself at the same
time: To-morrow perhaps you may die and leave me.
These are words of ill omen, you will say. That is
your mistake; the consequences of mortality and the194

MEDITATIONS.

course of nature are no ominous things to think on,
otherwise it would be an ominous business to cut
down a little grass or corn.

35.	Grapes are first sour, then ripe, then raisins,
these are all no more than bare alterations; not into
nothing, but into something which does not appear at
present.

36.	As Epictetus observes, nobody can rob another
of his free will.

37.	The same philosopher has taught us the art of
managing our assent and movements; that we should
have a regard to circumstances; that our inclinations
should be generous and benevolent, and proportioned
to the merit and dignity of things; that we must
keep our desires from being headstrong, and never
have an aversion for anything which it is out of our
power to hinder.

38.	Therefore, as Epictetus observes, the contest is
no trifle, but whether we are to live in our wits or out
of them.

39.	It is a saying of Socrates to some untoward
people : " What would you be at ? Would you have
the soul of a man or of a beast in you ? Of a
man. Of what sort of men, of those that use their
reason, or those that abuse it ? Of the first. Why
then, continues the philosopher, do not you look out for
this privilege ? Because we have it already. What
makes you then disagree, and fall foul upon each
other ?"BOOK XII.

^wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwBOOK XII

LL those things you drudge, and range so
much ground for, you may have at your
ease, unless you are afraid of making
yourself too happy. Your method to do
your business is not to concern yourself
about the time past, for that is never to be recovered;
to rest the future with Providence, and only stick to
the present, and improve that to all the noble pur-
poses of piety and justice. The pious part will be
discharged by being contented with your fate; and
why should you not, since nature made you for each
other? And as to the obligations of justice, you will
acquit yourself here, provided you speak truth boldly
and above board, and make law and the dignity of
things your rule to act by. Wherein you are not to
be checked in your progress by the misbehaviour, the
ignorance, and impertinent reports of other people,
nor yet by the sensations of the body that surrounds
you, for the part that suffers must look to that. To
go on: If, since your life is almost up, you lay aside
all other matters, and only cultivate your mind, and
pay a regard to the governing and diviner part of
yourself ; if you are not at all afraid of losing your198

MEDITATIONS,

life, but only of never beginning to live in accordance
with nature, then you will act suitably to your ex-
traction, and deserve to be the offspring of the uni-
verse ; then you will be no longer a stranger in your
own country, nor be surprised at common accidents;
you will never be dependent on this or that.

2.	God sees through the soul of every man as
clearly as if it was not wrapped up in matter, nor had
anything of the shroud and coarseness of body about
it. And God, with his intellectual part alone, touches
those beings only that have flowed and proceeded from
him. Now, if you would learn to do thus, a great
deal of trouble would be saved ; for he that can over-
look his body will hardly disturb himself about the
clothes he wears, the house he dwells in, about his
reputation, or any part of this pomp and magnificence.

3.	You consist of three parts—your body, your
breath, and your mind. The first two are yours to
take care of, but the latter is properly your person.
Therefore, if you abstract from the notion of yourself,
that is, of your mind, whatever other people either
say or do, or whatever you may have said or done
yourself formerly, together with all that disturbs
you under the consideration of its coming to pass
hereafter; if you throw the necessary motions of your
carcass out of the definition, and those of the vortex
that whirls about you, and by this means preserve
your rational faculties in an independent state of inno-
cence, free from the allotments of fate, holding close
and steady to the virtues of justice, truth, and acqui-
escence ; if I say, you keep your mind separate andMEDITATIONS.

199

distinguished from the objects of appetite and the
events of time, both past and future, and make your-
self like Empedocles's world,

" Bound as a ball in joyous rest reposing,"

and concern yourself to live no longer than your
real life, that is the present moment; if you do all
this, you may move on till death stops you, with
credit and in harmony with the deity within you.

4.	I have often wondered how it comes to pass
that everybody should love themselves best, and yet
value their neighbour's opinion about themselves more
than their own. Therefore, if any god or eminent
instructor should stand at a man's elbow and order
him to turn his inside outwards, and publish every
thought and fancy as fast as they came into his head,
he would not submit so much as to a day's discipline;
thus we stand .more in awe of our neighbour's judg-
ments than our own.

5.	How comes it that since the gods have con-
trived all things so well, and so much to the
benefit of mankind, they should overlook this parti-
cular, and suffer men of great virtue and merit, who,
by their piety and devotion, were, as it were, in com-
munion with the powers above, and kept always a
correspondence with heaven, that they should suffer
such men, I say, to be finally extinguished by death,
and not give them their being again ? Now, if the
case stands thus, you may be assured had it been
proper, the gods would have ordered it otherwise; for
had it been right it would have been possible, and200

MEDITATIONS.

nature would certainly have brought it forth if it had
been natural; therefore from its not being matter of fact,
if indeed it is not, you may undoubtedly conclude it
ought not to be so. For do not you perceive that in
reasoning this point you dispute the administration of
providence \ Now, if the justice and goodness of the
gods were not extraordinary, this liberty would not be
allowed, neither would you presume so far if you
thought otherwise ; but, if they have these perfections,
they will never neglect their affairs, nor blemish their
world with anything that is unreasonable or unjust.

6.	Accustom yourself to master things which you
seem to despair of, for, if you observe, the left hand,
though, for want of practice, it is insignificant in other
business, yet it holds the bridle better than the right
because it has been used to it.

7.	Consider what death will make of you, both as
to body and mind, recollect the shortness of life, the
immeasurable extent of time, both past and future,
and how slenderly all things are put together.

8.	Let it be your method to contemplate spirits
apart from the shell they are shut up in, mind the
aim of people's actions, examine the value of fame, the
force of pain and pleasure, and see what death amounts
to, and what reputation, consider upon what account a
man grows troublesome to himself, that nobody can be
hindered by another, and that everything is opinion.

9.	We must manage the precepts of philosophy like
those that wrestle and box in the circus, and not like
a gladiator; for your fencer if he drops his sword
is hewn down immediately, but the other that makesMED IT A TIONS.

201

weapons of his limbs has nothing to do but to keep
his hands stirring.

10.	Be not satisfied with a superficial view of things,
but penetrate into their matter and form, and the end
they were made for.

11.	What a mighty privilege is a man born to,
since it is in his power not to do anything but what God
Almighty approves, and to be satisfied with all the
distributions of Providence.

12.	When things follow from the course of nature,
we ought not to blame the gods, for they do no
wrong either willingly or against their will, nor yet
men, for their misbehaviour is all involuntary. There-
fore we must complain of nobody.

13.	How unacquainted is that man with the world,
and how ridiculous does he appear, that makes a
wonder of anything he meets with in this life !

14.	Either the order of things is fixed by irrevoc-
able fate, or providence may be worked into com-
passion, or else the world floats at random without
any steerage. Now if nature lies under an immovable
necessity, to what purpose should you struggle against
it ? If the favour of providence is to be gained,
qualify yourself for the divine assistance ; but if chance
and confusion prevail, be you contented that in such a
storm you have a governing intelligence within you,
and if the waves run too high, let them carry away
your body, your breath, and all things else, but there
is no necessity your mind should be driven with them.

15.	A lamp till it is extinguished holds its light,
and shines without interruption, and can you find in202

MEDITATIONS. -

your heart to see your truth, honesty, and sobriety
extinguished before you ?

16.	When you fancy anyone has transgressed, say
this to yourself: How do I know it is a fault ? And
granting it is, it may be his conscience has corrected
him, and if so, he has torn his own face. Besides,
you are to remember, that to wish an evil man should
not do amiss, is just as wise as it would be to desire
that a fig-tree should not bear juice in the figs, that
children should not squall, nor horses neigh, nor a
great many other things act according to the necessity
of their condition. Pray, how would you have a man
of such an unfortunate disposition behave himself?
Jf you are angry, try to cure him.

17.	If it is not seemly never do it, if it is not true,
never speak it, for your impulse should always be
under your control.

18.	Look always nicely into whatever makes an
impression upon your mind, distinguishing it into
cause and matter; and consider its purpose and design
and the period of time, beyond which it is unlikely to
continue,

19.	Consider, for it is high time, that you have
something more divine in you than the mechanism of
passion, than the wires of a puppet. What is there
now in my soul? Is it fear, or suspicion, or desire?
Or anything of this coarse nature ?

20.	Take care never to do anything without
thought, and design, nor for any other end but what
may be serviceable to the interest of society.

21.	Consider that in a little time you will neitherMEDITATIONS.

203

have place, nor being, that your contemporaries will
have the same fate, and the present scene of nature
be shut up. For all things are formed by nature to
change and turn and drop in pieces, that new ones
may be continually made out of them.

22.	Remember that all things are opinion, and
that it is in your own power to think as you please.
Therefore remove the opinion, and then as if you had
doubled some dangerous cape, you will have nothing
but a steady course, a smooth sea, and a waveless bay
to receive you.

23.	Every activity that ceases in due time, suffers
nothing by breaking off: Neither does the agent
receive any harm from this. Thus life, which is
nothing but a series and continuation of action, comes
to no harm by having a seasonable period put to it:
Neither does he who has ended this series in due time
sustain any loss. Now nature assigns the term of
life; sometimes this period is fixed by particular
nature, as it happens when a man dies of old age;
but let it come late or early, common nature has
certainly a hand in it. And thus the parts of nature
changing from one form to another preserve the whole
world in perpetual youth and vigour. Now that is
always good and reasonable which makes for the
service of the universe. From hence it follows that
bare dying can be no real evil, seeing there is nothing
disgraceful in it, for it is both involuntary with respect
to ourselves, and serviceable to the general interest.
Therefore, it is certainly a good thing, since it is
suitable, and seasonable, and profitable to the universe,

271204

MEDITATIONS.

for he that follows the Deity with his motions, and is led
by his will to the same ends, is led by God himself

24s Let these three hints lie ready for service.
Mrst, As to your own actions 1st nothing be done
rashly nor to no purpose, nor indeed in any other
manner than justice itself would have ordered it.
And as for external fortune, consider that it is the
blind distribution of chance or else the appointment
of providence. Now either to murmur against chance
or impeach providence is extremely absurd. Secondly,
Consider what a slight thing man is from his conception
till he receives his soul; and from its reception till
its loss; consider too the parts of his composition and
the state of his dissolution. Thirdly, Consider that if
you could shoot yourself at pleasure into the sky and
thence take a view of human affairs, you would per-
ceive a strange medley of condition, and discover at
the same time the air, and ether too, plentifully stocked
with inhabitants. And that if you mounted never so
often, you would have the old prospect. Alas ! things
are generally of the same complexion and of the same
short continuance too, and yet how strangely we are
conceited of them.

25.	Discharge opinion and you are safe; and pray
who can hinder you from doing it ?

26.	When you are uneasy upon any account, you
have forgotten that all things fall out according to the
nature of the universe, and that another man's fault
is no concern of yours, that what you reckon griev-
ances is nothing but the old way of the world and will
come over again, and is now to be met with in aMEDITATIONS.

205

thousand places. You have forgotten that all mankind
are of kin, for though they may be unallied in flesh
and blood, their understandings are all of the same
family. You do not remember that every man's soul
is a portion of the Deity, and derived from thence,
that we have nothing properly our own, but that our
children, our bodies, and our breath, are all borrowed
from heaven, that opinion governs all, and that it is
not possible for any body to live, or lose any more
than the present moment. All this you seem to have
forgotten.

27.	Reflect frequently upon those that have formerly
been mightily disturbed with accidents of any kind,
that have carried their animosities and feuds to the
most flaming excess, that have made the most glorious
figure or met with the greatest misfortune, and then
ask yourself, Where are they all now ? They are
vanished like a little smoke, they are nothing but
ashes, and a tale, or not even a tale. Recollect like-
wise everything of this sort, what Fabius Catullinus
did at his country seat; Lucius Lupus, in his garden ;
Stertinius, at Baiae; Tiberius, at Capreae; Rufus, at
Velia, in short, the overweening importance attached
to anything whatsoever; and know that the prize is
insignificant, and the play not worth the candle. It is
much more becoming a philosopher to stand clear of
affectation, to be honest and temperate upon all occa-
sions, and to follow cheerfully wherever the gods lead
on, for nothing is more scandalous than a man that is
proud of his humility.

28.	To those that ask me the reason of my being206

MEDIT A TIONS+

so earnest in religious worship, and whether I ever saw
any of the gods, or which way I am convinced of the
certainty of their existence ; in the first place, I answer,
that the gods are not invisible. But granting they
were, the objection would signify nothing, for I never
had a sight of my own soul, and yet I have a great
value for it. And thus by my constant experience of
the power of the gods I have a proof of their being,
and a reason for my veneration.

29.	The best provision for a happy life is to dissect
everything, view its own nature, and divide it into
matter and form. To practise honesty in good earnest,
and speak truth from the very soul of you. What
remains but to live easy and cheerful, and crowd
one good action so close to another that there may
not be the least empty space between them.

30.	The light of the sun is but one and the same,
though it is divided by the interposition of walls and
mountains, and abundance of other opaque bodies,
There is but one common matter, though it is par-
celled out among bodies of different qualities. There
is but one sensitive soul too, notwithstanding it is
divided among innumerable natures and individual
limitations. And lastly, the rational soul, though it
seems to be split into distinction, is -but one and the
same. Now, excepting this last, the other parts
above-mentioned, such as breath and matter, though
without apprehension, or any common affection to tie
them to each other, are yet upheld by an intelligent
being, and by that faculty which pushes things of the
same nature to the same place ; but human under-MEDITATIONS.

207

standings have a peculiar disposition to union; they
stick together by inclination, and nothing can extin-
guish such sociable thoughts in them.

31.	What is it you hanker after ? Is it bare
existence? or sensation? or motion? or strength,
that you may lose it again in decay ? What ? Is it
the privilege of speech, or the power of thinking in
general ? Is any of this worth desiring ? If all these
things are trifles, proceed to something that is worth
your while, and that is to be governed by reason and
the Deity. And yet you cannot be said to value these
last-mentioned privileges rightly, if you are disturbed
because death must take them from you.

32.	What a small part of immeasurable and in-
finite time falls to the share of a single mortal, and
how soon is every one swallowed up in eternity!
What a handful of the universal matter goes to the
making of a human body, and what a very little of the
universal soul too ! And on what a narrow clod with
respect to the whole earth do you crawl upon ! Con-
sider all this, and reckon nothing great, unless it be
to act in conformity to your pwn reason, and to suffer
as the universal nature shall appoint you.

33.	The great business of a man is to improve his
mind, therefore consider how he does this. As for all
other things, whether in our power to compass or not,
they are no better than lifeless ashes and smoke.

34.	We cannot have a more promising notion to
set us above the fear of death, than to consider that it
has been despised even by that sect who made plea-
sure and pain the standard of good and evil.2o8

MEDITATIONS.

35.	He that likes no time so well as the fitting
season, he that is indifferent whether he has room for
a long progress in reason or not, or whether he has a
few or a great many years to view the world in, a
person thus qualified will never be afraid of dying.

36.	Hark ye friend; you have been a burgher
of this great city, what matter though you have
lived in it five years or three; if you have observed
the laws of the corporation, the length or shortness of
the time make no difference. Where is the hardship
then if nature, that planted you here, orders your
removal ? You cannot say you are sent off by a
tyrant or unjust judge. No; you quit the stage as
fairly as a player does that has his discharge from the
master of the revels. But I have only gone through
three acts, and not held out to the end of the fifth.
You say well; but in life three acts make the play
entire. He that ordered the opening of the first
scene now gives the sign for shutting up the last; you
are neither accountable for one nor the other; there-
fore retire well satisfied, for He, by whom you are
dismissed, is satisfied too.

THE END OF THE TWELVE BOOKS OF THE
EMPEROR MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS.NOTES.

BOOK I.

1.	Annius Verus was his grandfather's name.

2,	3. Annius Verus was also his father's name; his mother's
was Domitia Calvilla. The Emperor T. Antoninus Pius married
the sister of Annius Verus, and was thus by marriage the uncle
of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, whom he adopted.

7, 8. Q. Junius Rusticus and Apollonius of Chalcis were Stoic
philosophers.	,

11. M. Cornelius Fronto was a rhetorician, who had been the
Emperor's tutor. Part of Marcus Aurelius' correspondence with
Fronto is still extant.

13.	Cinna Catulus was a Stoic philosopher.

14.	The allusion maybe to Claudius Severus, a Stoic philo-
sopher.

15.	Claudius Maximus was a Stoic philosopher.

17, "It is the favour of the gods that I happened to meet
with a brother." The Emperor had no brother. If this refers
to Lucius Verus, his adopted brother, he certainly does not
deserve the praise here bestowed.

BOOK II.

13. " As the poet says."—Pindar, quoted in the " Theaetetus99
of Plato.

BOOK IV.

27. The Greek word for Universe and Order is the same,
k6<7juos. Thus the "universe," or "universal order,v is con-
trasted with chaos or disorder.2IO

NOTES.

34.	Clotho was one of the Fates. They were three sisters—
Clotho, the spinning fate ; Lachesis, the one who assigns to man
his fate; and Atropos, the sister who cut the thread when a
man's destiny was accomplished.

BiOOK VII.

35.	From Plato's "Republic," Book vi. p. 486.

38. From Euripides' " Bellerophon."

40. From Euripides' " Hypsiple."

42. Aristophanes, " Acharnians," 1. 661.

44-45. From Plato's "Apology," p. 28.

46. From Plato's " Gorgias," p. 512.

48. This does not appear to be in any of Plato's extant
writings. It has been suggested that it should rather be
referred to Pythagoras.

50.	From Euripides'" Chrysippus."

51.	The first two lines are from Euripides' " Supplices," 1110,
1111.

66. " Leon of Salamis." In the year 404 B.C., during the terrible
tyranny of "the Thirty" at Athens, Socrates was ordered to
assist in unjustly arresting a rich citizen of Salamis, and bring-
ing him to Athens for a trial that was only a mockery of justice.
Socrates refused to do this; and he alludes to this in the
"Apology." "But when the oligarchy of 'the Thirty' was in
power, they sent for me and four others into the rotunda, and
bade us bring Leon the Salaminian from Salamis, as they wanted
to execute him. That was a specimen of the sort of commands
they were always giving with a view to implicating as many as
possible in theiv crimes; and then I showed, not in word only,
but in deed, that, if I may be allowed to use such an expression,
I cared not a straw for death, and that my sole fear was the fear
of doing an unrighteous or unholy thing. For the strong arm of
the oppressive power did not frighten me into doing wrong, and
when we came out of the rotunda, the other four went to Salamis
and fetched Leon, but I went quietly home." (Plato, "Apology,"
p. 32, trs. by Jowett.)NOTES.

211

"That he walked in a swaggering way." This is asserted by
Aristophanes in his comedy, the "Clouds," where he ridicules
Socrates.

BOOK VIII.

3. Caius is Caius Julius Caesar.

57. Marcus Aurelius is trying to derive the Greek word for
rays d/crfr es from the verb iKTdvecrdai^-to be extended. The
explanation is obviously impossible. Such bad etymology was
common at a time when no real science of words existed.

BOOK IX.

29. In his "Republic," Plato sketches an ideal state in which
the institutions and government are to attain perfection.

BOOK X.

; 6. "The islands of the blest." Homer (Od. iv.) speaks of the
Elysian plain at the extremity of the world, "where life is easiest
for men. No snow is there, nor yet great storm, nor any rain,
but alway ocean sendeth forth the breeze of the shrill west to
blow cool on men." (Trs. by Butcher and Lang.) Plutarch iden-
tifies the Canaries with this description. After describing their
delightful climate, he says, " So that it is generally believed even
among the barbarians, that these are the Elysian fields and
the seats of the blessed" (Plutarch, " Sertorius "),

21. There is a sort of play here on the word <£iXet, which means
both "loves," and "is wont." The Stoics delighted in these
plays on words, and even used the names of the gods in a pun-
ning sense.

23. The quotation is from Plato's "Theaetetus," p. 174,
but it is curiously applied. In the original the words are used
disparagingly. Plato is describing the philosopher, and showing
with what contempt he would look on the greatness of a tyrant or
king. " Then again he observes that the great man is of necessity
as ill-mannered and uneducated as any shepherd, for he has no212

NOTES.

leisure, and he is surrounded by a wall which is his mountam-
pen." (Jowett's translation.)

31. Crito was a friend of Socrates, and gave his name to one
of Plato's dialogues.

34. The quotation is from Homer, " Iliad/' vi. 146.

BOOK XI.

6. " O Cithaeron." The words occur in one of the choruses in
Sophocles' "(Edipus Tyrannus," 1. 1089. (Edipus had be'en
exposed as ah infant on Mount Cithaeron, in order to avoid
the terrible doom prophesied him.

22. The first extant version of the story of the town and the
country mouse occurs in Horace's " Satires," ii. 6.

26. The Ephesians are probably the followers of Heraclitus.

BOOK XII.

3. Empedocles of Agrigentum was a philosopher who
flourished about 444 B.C. He was the first to establish the
number of four elements. These were, he thought, acted on by
two moving causes—love (combination), and strife (separation).
Originally the four elements were combined in a sphere where
love reigned supreme, and all was peace and harmony. Strife,
which was originally outside the sphere, gradually forced its
way in, and so began the period of change in which we are
living. Empedocles wrote an epic describing the origin of the
world, and from this the line in the text is a quotation.

34. This section refers to the Epicureans. Their doctrine
made the chief good consist in pleasure, but as they believed that
only virtue would afford true pleasure, their teaching was really
capable of producing noble men. Our modern term "Epicurean"
in no way does justice to the teaching of Epicurus and his
immediate followers.

TIIE WALTER SCOTT PRESS, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.: : MESSRS. GEORGE

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Jleto |)ub!kattons. .

The New Knebworth Edition of

The Novels and Romances of
Edward, Lord Lytton

In 29 Volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, price £$ 5s. With &
Bibliography and Introduction by Charles Kent, and a
Photogravure Portrait.

Pelham.

Falkland and Zicci.
Devereux.

The Disowned.

Paul Clifford.

Eugene Aram,

Godolphin.

The Last Days of Pompeii.
Rienzi.

The Last of the Barons.
Vol. I.

The Last of the Barons.

Vol, II.'

Leila, Calderon and Pau-

sanias.

Harold.

A Strange Story.

Zanoni.

The Pilgrims of the Rhine,
The Haunted and the
Haunters.

Ernest Maltravers.

Alice.

Lucretia.

Night and Morning.
Ken elm Chillingly.
The Parisians. Vol. I.
The Parisians. Vol. II.

The Coming Race.
The Caxtons.

My Novel. Vol. I.
My Novel. Vol. II.
My Novel. Vol. III.

What Will He Do with It ?
Vol. i.

What Will He Do with It ?
Vol. II.

" In the highest qualities acquired in the delineation of tte secret feel-
ings that dwell in the recesses of the heart, Bulwer Lytton stands pre-
eminent and entitled to a place beside Scott himself at the very head of
the prose-writers of works of imagination in our country.—Alison's
History of Europe,

The Author's Copyright Edition, in style of. production
good enough to satisfy the most fastidious book-lover.GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS'

SETS OF

Novels & Standard Works.

£ t. A

400 Ainsworth's (W. H.) Novels, 16 vols. With the
Original Illustrations. 433 plates, demy 8vo.

1	1 o-----12 vols., Pocket

Volume Edition, gilt top, in a box.

o 10 o Austen's (Jane) Novels, 5 vols., crown 8vo.

150 Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson, 5 vols., demy 8vo.

o 17 6 Cooper's Novels, Leatherstocking Tales, 5 vols.,
crown 8vo.

0	12 6 Dante's Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation,

3 vols., half-calf, antique.

11 o Dickens's Christmas Books, 5 vols., half-calf,

antique.

340 Dixon (Canon R. W.) History of the Church of

England, 4 vols., demy 8vo, cloth.

2	12 6 Dumas'(Alexandre) Novels, Illustrated Edition,

15 vols., crown 8vo.

1	11 6 ----D'Artagnan Romances,

9 vols., crown 8vo.

1 10 o Emerson's Complete Works, 12 vols.

0	8 6 Essays of Elia, 2 vols., half-calf, antique.

1	1 o Fielding and Smollett's Novels, 6 vols., crown

8vo.

1	5 o Fielding's (Henry) Novels, 5 vols., demy 8vo.

o 10 6 --—?----— 3 vols., crown 8vo.

0 6 o--!----3 vols., crown 8vo.

o 12 6 Holmes's (0. W.) Writings, The Breakfast-Table

Series, 3 vols., half-calf, antique.

2	12 6 Qugo's (Yictor) Novels, Notre Dame Edition,

14 vols., crown 8vo, illustrated.

o 12 6 Ingoldsby Legends (The), with Illustrations,

3 vols., half-calf, antique.

220 Longfellow's Poetical Works, Pocket. Volume

Edition, 15 vols., paste grain, in box.

r i o-------- Pocket Volume

Edition, 15 vols., in box.GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS'

SETS OF

Novels and Standard Works (continued).

£ s. d.

550 Lytton's (Lord) Novels, the New Knebworth

• Edition, 29 vols., crown 8vo, cloth. With Photogravure
Portrait and Engraved Title-pages. .

3 10 o--—— 28 vols., crown 8vo, Red Cloth

Edition.

2	2 o —--Pocket Edition, 28 vols.,

cloth.

! 8 o---— 28 vols., Pocket Vol.

Edition.

i i o----5 vols., Caxton Novel

Edition.

9 19 6 Marryat's (Captain) Novels, 19 vols., Large

Paper Edition, net

3	10 o ----- 19 vols., The

*' King's Own " Edition.

x 5 0---:—;- Handy Volume

Edition, 17 vols., cloth.

060 Motley's Rise of the Dutch Republic, 3 vols.,

crown 8vo.

076 Napier's History of the Peninsular War, with

Maps and Plans, 3 vols., crown 8vo.

i 10 Poe's (Edgar Allan) Works, 6 vols., crown 8vo.
800 Presoott's Works, Edition de luxe, 16 vols., net.
300 ----- 11 vols., Library Edition, demy

8vo, half-roan.

017 6 --—— Notes by J. F. Kirk, 5 vols.,

Popular Library, demy 8vo.

476 Scott's (Sir Walter) The Waverley Noyels, the

Steel Plate Edition, 25 vols., crown 8vo.

220 ShakeBpeare (Routledge's Illustrated), Edited

by Howard Staunton, 3 vols., super-royal 8vo.
1 10 o Smollett's (Tobias) Novels, 6 vols., demy 8vo.

o IO 6---------3 vols., crown 8vo.

060---3 vols., crown 8vo.

0	10 6 The Spectator, 3 vols., demy 8vo.

1	11 6 Wood's Illustrated Natural History, 3 vols.,

super-royal 8vo.

i i o -—^------of Man,

2 vols.The New Library Edition of

Henry Fielding's Novels.

Re-set in new type, with full-page Illustrations by Hablot K.
Browne. Complete in 5 Volumes, demy 8vo, cloth,
price £1 $s.

u < LIST OF THE VOLUMES.

Joseph Andrews.
Tom Jones. Vol. 1.

Vol. 2.

The History of Amelia.

Mr. Jonathan Wild the
Great, and A Journey
from this World to the
Next.

The Fordham Edition of the

Writings of Edgar Allan Poe.

With Original Notes, Etchings, and Portraits. 6 Volumes,
crown 8vo, cloth, price £1 is.

LIST OF THE VOLUMES.

Poems.

Tales. 1 st Series.
Tales. 2nd Series.
Tales. 3rd Series.

Essays and Biographies.

1 st Series.

Essays and Biographies.

2nd Series.

" Les Mis^rables."

By Victor Hugo. New Library Edition, in 5 Volumes^
crown 8vo, bound in cloth, price 17s. 6d.

Addison's "Spectator."

Edited by Henry Morley, LL.D. With introduction, notes
and. index, printed in large type. 3 Volumes, demy
8vo, cloth, price 10s. 6d.The New Library Edition of

Tobias Smollett's Novels.

Re-set in new type, with full page Illustrations by Hablot
K. Browne. Complete in 6 Volumes, demy 8vo, cloth,
price jQi ios.

LIST OF THE VOLUMES. ,

Roderick Bandom.

Peregrine Pickle*

Vol. i.
Vol. 2.

Ferdinand, Count Fathom.
Sir Launcelot Greaves, &c.
Humphry Clioker.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's
Works.

(Riverside Edition).

Printed from new Electrotype Plates, with Two New
Portraits, crown 8vo, cloth, price 10s. The only Com-
plete Copyright Edition.

LIST OF THE VOLUMES.

Nature: Addresses and Lec-
tures.

This book has hitherto borne the
name of'1 Miscellanies."

Essays, ist series.

Essays. 2nd series.
Representative Men.
English Traits.

Conduct of Life.

Society and Solitude.
Letters and Social Aims.
Poems.

Lectures and Biographical

Miscellanies. [Sketches.

Natural History of Intel-
lect.

The New Library Edition of

Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson.

Edited by Henry Morley, LL.D. With Steel Portraits by
Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. 5 Volumes, demy 8vo, cloth,
price £1 5*.Ainsworth's Novels.

The Original Illustrated Edition^ with 433 Steel Plates,

Wood Engravings and Plans, by George Cruikshank,

Hablot K. Browne, Sir John Gilbert, R.A., John

Franklin, Tony Johannot, and W. A. Delamotte. In

16 Volumes, demy 8vo, red cloth, price £4.

LIST OF THE NOVELS.

The Tower of London. With 40 Steel Plates and 58
Woodcuts by George Cruikshank.

Jack Sheppard. With 27 Steel Plates by George Cruik-
shank.

St. James's. With 13 Steel Plates by George Cruikshank.

Crichton. With 18 Steel Plates by Hablot K. Browne.

Guy Fawkes. With 22 Steel Plates by George Cruikshank.

The .Miser's Daughter. With 20 Steel Plates by George
Cruikshank.

Rookwood. With 12 Steel Plates by George Cruikshank
and 8 Page Illustrations by Sir John Gilbert, R.A.

Old St. Paul's. With 22 Steel Plates by John Franklin
and Hablot K. Browne.

Windsor Castle. With 19 Steel Plates by George Cruik-
shank and Tony Johannot, and numerous Woodcuts by W. A.
Delamotte.

The Lancashire Witches. With 8 Page Illustrations by
Sir John Gilbert, R.A.

The Star Chamber. With 8 Page Illustrations by Hablot
K. Browne.

The Flitch of Bacon. With 8 Page Illustrations by Sir
John Gilbert, R.A.

The Spendthrift. With 8 Page Illustrations by Hablot K.
Browne.

Mervyn Clitheroe. With 24 Steel Plates by Hablot K.
Browne.

Ovingdean Grange. With 8 Page Illustrations by Hablot
K. Browne.

Auriol. With 15 Steel Plates by Hablot K. Browne.This book is a preservation facsimile produced for
the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
It is made in compliance with copyright law
and produced on acid-free archival

60# book weight paper
which meets the requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper).

Preservation facsimile printing and binding
by

Northern Micrographics
Brookhaven Bindery
La Crosse, Wisconsin
2014