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12 - The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius · The Philosophy Insights Collection

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All those things at which thou wishest to arrive by a secuitous road, thou
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canst have now if thou dost not refuse them to thyself. And this means,
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if thou wilt take no notice of all the past, and trust the
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future to providence, and direct the present only conformably to piety and justice conformably
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to piety, that thou mayst be content with the lot which is assigned to
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THEE, for Nature designed it for THEE, and THEE for it conformably to
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justice. That thou mayst always speak the truth freely and without disguise, and
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do the things which are agreeable to law and according to the worth of each.
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And let neither another man's wickedness hinder THEE, nor opinion, nor voice,
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nor yet the sensations of the poor flesh which has grown about THEE.
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For the passive part will look to this. If then whatever the time may
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be when thou shalt be near to thy departure, neglecting everything else, thou
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shalt respect only Thy ruling faculty and the divinity within THEE. And if thou
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shalt be afraid, not because thou must sometimes cease to live, but if
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thou shalt fear never to have begun to live according to nature, then thou
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wilt be a man worthy of the universe which has produced thee. And thou
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wilt cease to be a stranger in thy native land, and to wonder at
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things which happened daily, as if there were something unexpected, and to be
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dependent on this or that. God sees the minds of all men bared of
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the material vesture and rind in impurities. For with his intellectual part alone he
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touches the intelligence only which has flowed and been derived from himself into these bodies.
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And if thou also usest thyself to do this, thou wilt rid thyself
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of thy much trouble. For he who regards not the poor flesh which envelops
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him surely will not trouble himself by looking after raiment and dwelling, and fame,
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and such like externals. And show the things are three of which thou
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art composed, a little body, a little breath, intelligence. Of these
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the first who are thine, so far as it is thy duty to take
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care of them, but the third alone is properly thine. Therefore, if
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thou shalt separate from thyself, that is, from thy understanding, whatever others
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do or say, and whatever thou hast done or said thyself, and whatever
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future things trouble THEE because they may happen, And whatever in the body which
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envelops THEE, or in the breath, which is by nature associated with the
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bubble, is attached to THEE independent of thy will, and whatever the external
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circumfluent vortex whirls round. So that the intellectual power, exempt from the things
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of fate, can live pure and free by itself, doing what is just
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and accepting what happens, and saying the truth. If thou wilt separate,
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i say, from this ruling faculty the things which are attached to it by
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the impressions of sense, and the things of time to come and of time
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that is past, and wilt make thyself like in Pedocles, a sphere all
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round and in its joyous rest reposing. And if thou shalt strive to live
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only what is really thy life, that is the present, then thou wilt
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be able to pass that portion of life which remains for THEE up to the
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time of thy death, free from perturbations, nobly and obedient to the God
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that is within thee. I have often wondered how it is that every man
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loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value
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on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others. If then,
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a god or a wise teacher should present himself to a man and bid
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him to think of nothing, and to design nothing, which he would not
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express as soon as he conceived it, he could not endure it even for
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a single day. So much more respect have we to what our neighbors shall
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think of us than to what we shall think of ourselves. How can it
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be that the Gods, after having arranged all things well and benevolently for mankind,
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have overlooked this alone, that some men, and very good men,
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and men, who, as we may say, have had most communion with
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the Divinity, and through pious acts and religious observances, have been most intimate
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with the Divinity, when they have once died, should never exist again,
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but should be completely extinguished. But if this is so, be assured that
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if it ought to have been otherwise, the gods would have done it.
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For if it were just, it would also be possible, And if it
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were according to nature, nature would have had it so. But because it
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is not so. If in fact it is not so, be thou convinced
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that it ought not to have been so. For thou seest even of thyself,
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that in this inquiry thou art disputing with the deity. And we should
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not thus dispute with the gods unless they were most excellent and most just.
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But if this is so, they would not have allowed anything in the ordering
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of the universe to be neglected unjustly and irrationally. Practice thyself, even in
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the things which thou despairest of accomplishing. For even the left hand, which
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is ineffectual for all other things, for want of practice, holds the bridle
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more vigorously than the right hand, for it has been practiced in this.
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Consider in what condition, both in body and soul, a man should be
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when he is overtaken by death. And consider the shortness of life, the
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boundless abyss of time past and future, the feebleness of all matter. Contemplate
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the formative principles of things, bear of their coverings, the purposes of actions.
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Consider what pain is, what pleasure is, and death and fame?
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Who is to himself the cause of his uneasiness? How no man is hindered
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by another, that everything is opinion. In the application of thy principles,
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thou must be like the pancratiast, not like the gladiator. For the gladiator
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lets fall the sword which he uses and is killed, but the other always
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has his hand and needs to do nothing else than use it. See what
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things are in themselves, dividing them into matter, form, and purpose.
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What a power man has to do nothing, accept what God will approve,
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and to accept all that God may give him. With respect to that which
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happens conformably to nature, we ought to blame neither gods, for they do
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nothing wrong, either voluntarily or involuntarily, nor men, for they do nothing
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wrong except involuntarily. Consequently, we shi blame nobody, how ridiculous and what
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a stranger he is who is surprised at anything which happens in life. Either
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there is a fatal necessity and invincible order, or a kind providence, or
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a confusion without a purpose and without a director. If then there is an
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invincible necessity, why dost thou resist? But if there is a providence which
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allows itself to be propitiated, make thyself worthy of the help of the Divinity.
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But if there is a confusion without a governor. Be content that in
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such a tempest thou hast in thyself a certain ruling intelligence. And even if
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the tempest carry thee away, let it carry away the poor flesh, the
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poor breath, everything else, for the intelligence, at least it will not
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carry away. Does the light of the lamp shine without losing its splendor until
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it is extinguished? And shall the truth which is in thee, and justice
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and temperance be extinguished before thy death. When a man has presented the appearance
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of having done wrong, say how then do I know if this is a
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wrongful act? And even if he has done wrong, how do I know
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that he has not condemned himself? And so this is like tearing his own
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face. Consider that he who would not have the bad man do wrong is
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like the man who would not have the fig tree to bear, juice in
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the figs, and infants to cry, and the horse to neigh, and
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whatever else must of necessity be. For what must a man do who has
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such a character, If then thou art irritable cure this man's disposition. If
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it is not right, do not do it, If it is not true,
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do not say it. In everything. Always observe what the thing is
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which produces for THEE in appearance, and resolve it by dividing it into the
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formal, the material, the purpose, and the time within which it must
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end. Perceive at last that thou hast in THEE something better and more divine
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than the things which cause the various effects. And, as it were,
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pull THEE by the strings. What is there now in my mind? Is
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it fear or suspicion, or desire or anything of the kind. First,
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do nothing inconsiderately nor without a purpose. Second, make thy acts refer to
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nothing else than to a social end. Consider that before long thou wilt be
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nobody and nowhere, nor will any of the things exist which thou now seest,
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nor any of those who are now living. For all things are formed
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by nature to change and be turned, and to perish in order that other
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things, in continuous succession may exist. Consider that everything is opinion, and
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opinion is in thy power. Take away, then, when thou choosest thy
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opinion, and like a mariner who has doubled the promontory, thou wilt find
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calm, everything stable, and a waveless bay. Any one activity wherever it
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may be when it has ceased at its proper time, suffers no evil because
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it has ceased. Nor he who has done this act does he suffer any
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evil for this reason that the act has ceased in like manner. Then the
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whole which consists of all the acts, which is our life, if it
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ceases at its proper time, suffers no evil for this reason that it has
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ceased. Nor he who has terminated this series at the proper time has he
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been ill dealt with. But the proper time in the limit, nature fixes,
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sometimes, as in old age, the peculiar nature of man, but
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always the universal nature, by the change of whose parts the whole universe continues,
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ever young and perfect, And everything which is useful to the universal is
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always good and in season. Therefore, the termination of life for every man
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is no evil, because neither is it shameful, since it is both in
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dependent to the will and not oppose to the general interest. But it is
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good since it is seasonable and profitable, too incongruent with the universal. For
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thus too he is moved by the deity, who is moved in the same
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manner with the Deity, and move towards the same things in his mind.
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These three principles. Thou must have in readiness, and the things which thou
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doest do nothing either inconsiderately or otherwise, as justice herself would act. But
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with respect to what may happen to THEE from without, consider that it happens
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either by chance or according to providence, And thou must neither blame chance nor
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accuse providence. Second, consider what every being is, from the seed to
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the time of its receiving a soul, and from the reception of a soul
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to the giving back of the same, And of what things every being is
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compounded, and into what things it is resolved. Third, if thou shouldst
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suddenly be raised up above the earth, and shouldst look down on human beings
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and observe the variety of them, how great it is. And at the
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same time also shouldst see at a glance how great is the number of beings
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who dwell all around in the air and the ether. Consider that as often
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as thou shouldst be raised up, thou wouldst see the same things. Sameness
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of form and shortness of duration. Are these things to be proud of?
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Cast away? Opinion Thou art saved, who then hinders THEE from casting it
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away? When thou art troubled about anything, thou hast forgotten this, that
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all things happen according to the universal nature, and forgotten this that a man's
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wrongful act is nothing to thee. And further, thou hast forgotten this,
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that everything which happens always happens so, and will happen so, and now
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happen so everywhere. Forgotten this too, how close is the kinship between a
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man and the whole human race, For it is a community not of a
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little blood or seed, but of intelligence. And thou hast forgotten this too,
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that every man's intelligence is a god, and is an efflux of the
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deity. And forgotten this that nothing is a man's own, but that his
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child, in his body, and his very soul came from the deity.
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Forgotten this that everything is opinion. And lastly, thou hast forgotten that every
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man lives the present time only, and loses only. This distantly, Bring
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to thy recollection those who have complained greatly about anything, those who have been
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most conspicuous by the greatest fame or misfortunes, or enmities, or fortunes of
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any kind. Then think where are they all? Now? Smoke an ash,
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and a tale were not even a tale. And let there be present
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to thy mind also everything of this sort, How Fabius Catalinus lived in the
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country, and Lucius Lupus in his gardens, and Stertainius at by Ei,
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and Tiberius at Caprie, and Rufus at Vilia, and in fine Think of
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the eager pursuit of anything conjoined with pride, and how worthless everything is after
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which men violently strain, And how much more philosophical it is for a man,
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in the opportunities presented to him, to show himself just, temperate,
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obedient to the gods, and to do this with all simplicity. For the
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pride, which is proud of its want of pride, is the most intolerable
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of all. To those who ask, where hast thou seen the gods?
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Or how dost thou comprehend that they exist and so worshipest them? I answer,
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in the first place, they may be seen even with the eyes.
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In the second place, neither have I seen even my own soul, and
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yet I honor it. Thus, then, with respect to the gods,
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from what I constantly experience of their power, from this I comprehend that they
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exist, and I venerate them. The safety of life is this, to
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examine everything all through, what it is itself, what is its material?
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What the formal part? With all thy soul, to do justice and to
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say the truth. What remains except to enjoy life by joining one good thing
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to another, so as not to leave even the smallest intervals between. There
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is one light of the sun, though it is interrupted by walls, mountains,
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and other things infinite. There is one common substance, though it is
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distributed among countless bodies, which have their several qualities. There is one soul,
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though it is distributed among infinite natures and individual circumscriptions. There is one
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intelligent soul, though it seems to be divided now in the things which have
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been mentioned. All the other parts, such as those which are air and
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matter, are without sensation and have no fellowship. And yet even these parts
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the intelligent principle holds together, and the gravitation towards the same. But intellect,
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in a peculiar manner, tends to that which is of the same kin
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and combines with it, and the feeling for communion is not interrupted. What
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dost thou wish to continue to exist? Well? Dost thou wish to have
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sensation, movement, growth, and then again to cease to grow. To
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use thy speech to think, what is there of all these things which seems
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to THEE worth desiring? But if it is easy to set little value on
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all these things, turn to that which remains, which is to follow reason
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in God. But it is inconsistent with honoring reason in God to be troubled,
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because by death a man will be deprived of the other things. How
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small a part of the boundless and unfathomable time is assigned to every man,
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for it is very soon swallowed up in the eternal. And how small a
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part of the whole substance, and how small a part of the universal soul,
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And on what a small claw of the whole earth thou creepest. Reflecting
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on all this, consider nothing to be great except to act as Thy nature
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leads thee, and to endure that which the common nature brings. How does
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the ruling faculty make use of itself? For all lies in this, But
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everything else, whether it is in the power of Thy will or not,
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is only lifeless ashes and smoke. This reflection is most adapted to move us
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to contempt of death. That even those who think pleasure to be a good,
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and pain and evil still have despised it. The man to whom that
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only is good, which comes in due season, and to whom it is
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the same thing, whether he has done more or fewer acts conformable to right
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reason, and to whom it makes no difference whether he contemplates the world for
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a longer or a shorter time. For this man, neither is death a
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terrible thing. Man, thou hast been a citizen in this great state the
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world? What difference does it make to thee whether for five years or three?
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For that which is conformable to the laws is just for all. Where
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is the hardship? Then? If no tyrant, nor yet an unjust judge
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sends thee away from the state, but nature who brought THEE into it,
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the same as if a praetor who is employed an actor dismisses him from the
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stage. But I have not finished the five acts, but only three of
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them, thou sayest, well, But in life the three acts are the
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whole drama. For what shall be a complete drama is determined by him who
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was once the cause of its composition, and now of its dissolution. But
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thou art, the cause of neither depart then satisfied. For he also who
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releases THEE is satisfied