Marcus Aurelius : Meditations. Book III
Written 167 A.D.
Translated by George LONG
We ught 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 mightest, 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 inclosed 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.