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book III
the meditations
marcus aurelius
We ought to consider not only that
our life is daily wasting away and a smaller part of it is
left, but another thing also must be taken into the account, that if a man should live longer, it is quite
uncertain whether the understanding will still continue
sufficient for the comprehension of things, and retain the
power of contemplation which strives to acquire the
knowledge of the divine and the human. For if he shall begin to fall into dotage, perspiration and nutrition and imagination and
appetite, and whatever else there is of the kind, will not
fail; but the power of making use of ourselves, and filling
up the measure of our duty, and clearly separating all
appearances, and considering whether a man should now depart from life, and whatever else of the kind absolutely requires a
disciplined reason, all this is already extinguished. We
must make haste then, not only because we are daily nearer
to death, but also because the conception of things and the
understanding of them cease first.
We ought to
observe also that even the things which follow after the
things which are produced according to nature contain something pleasing and attractive. For instance, when bread is baked some
parts are split at the surface, and these parts which thus
open, and have a certain fashion contrary to the purpose of
the baker's art, are beautiful in a manner, and in a
peculiar way excite a desire for eating. And again, figs, when they are quite ripe, gape open; and in the ripe olives the
very circumstance of their being near to rottenness adds a
peculiar beauty to the fruit. And the ears of corn bending
down, and the lion's eyebrows, and the foam which flows
from the mouth of wild boars, and many other things- though they are far from being beautiful, if a man should examine
them severally- still, because they are consequent upon the
things which are formed by nature, help to adorn them, and
they please the mind; so that if a man should have a
feeling and deeper insight with respect to the things which are produced in the universe, there is hardly one of those
which follow by way of consequence which will not seem to
him to be in a manner disposed so as to give pleasure. And
so he will see even the real gaping jaws of wild beasts
with no less pleasure than those which painters and sculptors show by imitation; and in an old woman and an old man he will
be able to see a certain maturity and comeliness; and the
attractive loveliness of young persons he will be able to
look on with chaste eyes; and many such things will present
themselves, not pleasing to every man, but to him only who
has become truly familiar with nature and her works.
Hippocrates after curing many diseases himself fell
sick and died. The Chaldaei foretold the deaths of many,
and then fate caught them too. Alexander, and Pompeius, and
Caius Caesar, after so often completely destroying whole
cities, and in battle cutting to pieces many ten thousands of cavalry and infantry, themselves too at last departed from life.
Heraclitus, after so many speculations on the conflagration
of the universe, was filled with water internally and died
smeared all over with mud. And lice destroyed Democritus;
and other lice killed Socrates. What means all this? Thou hast embarked, thou hast made the voyage, thou art come to shore;
get out. If indeed to another life, there is no want of
gods, not even there. But if to a state without sensation,
thou wilt cease to be held by pains and pleasures, and to
be a slave to the vessel, which is as much inferior as that which serves it is superior: for the one is intelligence and deity;
the other is earth and corruption.
Do not waste the remainder of thy life in thoughts
about others, when thou dost not refer thy thoughts to some
object of common utility. For thou losest the opportunity
of doing something else when thou hast such thoughts as
these, What is such a person doing, and why, and what is he
saying, and what is he thinking of, and what is he contriving, and whatever else of the kind makes us wander away from the
observation of our own ruling power. We ought then to check
in the series of our thoughts everything that is without a
purpose and useless, but most of all the over-curious feeling and the malignant; and a man should use himself to
think of those things only about which if one should
suddenly ask, What hast thou now in thy thoughts? With
perfect openness thou mightiest, immediately answer, This
or That; so that from thy words it should be plain that everything in thee is simple and benevolent, and such as befits a social
animal, and one that cares not for thoughts about pleasure
or sensual enjoyments at all, nor has any rivalry or envy
and suspicion, or anything else for which thou wouldst
blush if thou shouldst say that thou hadst it in thy mind. For the man who is such and no longer delays being among the
number of the best, is like a priest and minister of the
gods, using too the deity which is planted within him,
which makes the man uncontaminated by pleasure, unharmed by
any pain, untouched by any insult, feeling no wrong, a fighter in the noblest fight, one who cannot be overpowered by any
passion, dyed deep with justice, accepting with all his
soul everything which happens and is assigned to him as his
portion; and not often, nor yet without great necessity and
for the general interest, imagining what another says, or does, or thinks. For it is only what belongs to himself that
he makes the matter for his activity; and he constantly
thinks of that which is allotted to himself out of the sum
total of things, and he makes his own acts fair, and he is
persuaded that his own portion is good. For the lot which is assigned to each man is carried along with him and carries him
along with it. And he remembers also that every rational
animal is his kinsman, and that to care for all men is
according to man's nature; and a man should hold on to the
opinion not of all, but of those only who confessedly live according to nature. But as to those who live not so, he
always bears in mind what kind of men they are both at home
and from home, both by night and by day, and what they are,
and with what men they live an impure life. Accordingly, he
does not value at all the praise which comes from such men,
since they are not even satisfied with themselves.
Labour not unwillingly, nor without regard to the
common interest, nor without due consideration, nor with
distraction; nor let studied ornament set off thy
thoughts, and be not either a man of many words, or busy about too many things. And further, let the deity which is in thee
be the guardian of a living being, manly and of ripe age,
and engaged in matter political, and a Roman, and a ruler,
who has taken his post like a man waiting for the signal
which summons him from life, and ready to go, having need neither of oath nor of any man's testimony. Be cheerful also, and
seek not external help nor the tranquility which others
give. A man then must stand erect, not be kept erect by
others.
If thou findest in human life anything
better than justice, truth, temperance, fortitude, and, in
a word, anything better than thy own mind's self-satisfaction in the things which it enables thee to do
according to right reason, and in the condition that is
assigned to thee without thy own choice; if, I say, thou
seest anything better than this, turn to it with all thy
soul, and enjoy that which thou hast found to be the best. But if nothing appears to be better than the deity which is
planted in thee, which has subjected to itself all thy
appetites, and carefully examines all the impressions,
and, as Socrates said, has detached itself from the persuasions of sense, and has submitted itself to the gods,
and cares for mankind; if thou findest everything else
smaller and of less value than this, give place to nothing
else, for if thou dost once diverge and incline to it,
thou wilt no longer without distraction be able to give the preference to that good thing which is thy proper possession and thy
own; for it is not right that anything of any other kind,
such as praise from the many, or power, or enjoyment of
pleasure, should come into competition with that which is
rationally and politically or practically good. All these things, even though they may seem to adapt themselves to the better
things in a small degree, obtain the superiority all at
once, and carry us away. But do thou, I say, simply and
freely choose the better, and hold to it.- But that which
is useful is the better.- Well then, if it is useful to thee as a rational being, keep to it; but if it is only useful to
thee as an animal, say so, and maintain thy judgement
without arrogance: only take care that thou makest the
inquiry by a sure method.
Never value anything as
profitable to thyself which shall compel thee to break thy
promise, to lose thy self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything
which needs walls and curtains: for he who has preferred
to everything intelligence and daemon and the worship of
its excellence, acts no tragic part, does not groan, will
not need either solitude or much company; and, what is chief of all, he will live without either pursuing or flying
from death; but whether for a longer or a shorter time he
shall have the soul enclosed in the body, he cares not at
all: for even if he must depart immediately, he will go as
readily as if he were going to do anything else which can be done with decency and order; taking care of this only all
through life, that his thoughts turn not away from
anything which belongs to an intelligent animal and a
member of a civil community.
In the mind of one
who is chastened and purified thou wilt find no corrupt
matter, nor impurity, nor any sore skinned over. Nor is his life incomplete when fate overtakes him, as one may say of an
actor who leaves the stage before ending and finishing the
play. Besides, there is in him nothing servile, nor
affected, nor too closely bound to other things, nor yet
detached from other things, nothing worthy of blame, nothing which seeks a hiding-place.
Reverence the
faculty which produces opinion. On this faculty it entirely depends whether there shall exist in thy ruling part
any opinion inconsistent with nature and the constitution
of the rational animal. And this faculty promises freedom
from hasty judgement, and friendship towards men, and
obedience to the gods. Throwing away then all
things, hold to these only which are few; and besides bear
in mind that every man lives only this present time, which is an indivisible point, and that all the rest of his life is
either past or it is uncertain. Short then is the time
which every man lives, and small the nook of the earth
where he lives; and short too the longest posthumous fame,
and even this only continued by a succession of poor human beings, who will very soon die, and who know not even themselves,
much less him who died long ago.
To the aids which have been mentioned let this one
still be added:- Make for thyself a definition or
description of the thing which is presented to thee, so as
to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and tell thyself its
proper name, and the names of the things of which it has
been compounded, and into which it will be resolved. For
nothing is so productive of elevation of mind as to be
able to examine methodically and truly every object which is presented to thee in life, and always to look at things so as to see at
the same time what kind of universe this is, and what kind
of use everything performs in it, and what value
everything has with reference to the whole, and what with
reference to man, who is a citizen of the highest city, of which all other cities are like families; what each thing is, and of
what it is composed, and how long it is the nature of this
thing to endure which now makes an impression on me, and
what virtue I have need of with respect to it, such as
gentleness, manliness, truth, fidelity, simplicity, contentment, and the rest. Wherefore, on every occasion a man should say: this
comes from God; and this is according to the apportionment
and spinning of the thread of destiny, and such-like
coincidence and chance; and this is from one of the same
stock, and a kinsman and partner, one who knows not however what is according to his nature. But I know; for this reason
I behave towards him according to the natural law of
fellowship with benevolence and justice. At the same time
however in things indifferent I attempt to ascertain the value of each.
If thou workest at
that which is before thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else
to distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure, as if
thou shouldst be bound to give it back immediately; if
thou holdest to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing,
but satisfied with thy present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou
utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is
able to prevent this.
As
physicians have always their instruments and knives ready for cases which suddenly require their skill, so do thou have
principles ready for the understanding of things divine
and human, and for doing everything, even the smallest,
with a recollection of the bond which unites the divine and human to one another. For neither wilt thou do anything
well which pertains to man without at the same time having
a reference to things divine; nor the contrary. No longer wander at hazard; for neither wilt thou
read thy own memoirs, nor the acts of the ancient Romans
and Hellenes, and the selections from books which thou
wast reserving for thy old age. Hasten then to the end
which thou hast before thee, and throwing away idle hopes, come to thy own aid, if thou carest at all for thyself, while it is
in thy power. They know not how
many things are signified by the words stealing, sowing,
buying, keeping quiet, seeing what ought to be done; for this is not effected by the eyes, but by another kind of vision.
Body, soul, intelligence: to the body belong
sensations, to the soul appetites, to the intelligence
principles. To receive the impressions of forms by means
of appearances belongs even to animals; to be pulled by
the strings of desire belongs both to wild beasts and to men who have made
themselves into women, and to a Phalaris and a Nero: and to have the
intelligence that guides to the things which appear suitable belongs also to those who do not believe
in the gods, and who betray their country, and do their
impure deeds when they have shut the doors. If then everything else is common to all that I have mentioned, there remains
that which is peculiar to the good man, to be pleased and
content with what happens, and with the thread which is
spun for him; and not to defile the divinity which is
planted in his breast, nor disturb it by a crowd of images, but to preserve it tranquil, following it obediently as a god,
neither saying anything contrary to the truth, nor doing
anything contrary to justice. And if all men refuse to
believe that he lives a simple, modest, and contented life, he is neither angry with any of them, nor does he
deviate from the way which leads to the end of life, to
which a man ought to come pure, tranquil, ready to depart,
and without any compulsion perfectly reconciled to his
lot.
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