Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

v MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS cxxxi
Truth similarly is spoken of as 'a name for nature,' and to
fall from truth is not merely to mislead or wrong another,
but *
.
to fight against the order of the universe, and to be
at civil war with one's own being.' 1
Belief in its cosmic
import enlarges and elates the thought of duty. It is
a covenant that, in so far as we identify ourselves with
the power outside ourselves, by which we live and move
and have our being, effort will not be wasted or misspent. 2
It consecrates patience, enabling us to acquiesce in
apparent failure or impotence ;
fellow-workers with 3
god.'
'
even in sleep we are
It heightens contentment
4
in well-doing, while it chastens self-complacency ; duty
is life kept natural, and *
moving in smooth flow.' 5 ' The
horse runs, the hound hunts, the bee makes honey ; so
the man that does his duty does not raise a shout, but
passes on to the next act, as a vine to the bearing of
clusters for next season.' 6
c
It only can keep the straight
way ' 7
through life's distracting maze, speak peace among
the bawling
8
of tongues, and conduct the storm-tossed
mariner to '
still waters and a waveless bay.' 9
The doctrine of tranquillity is ultimately pushed to \^
lengths that threaten moral energy. Founded on the /
thought of cosmic determinism, 10 and divorced from the
compensations and suggestions of redress that the hope
of immortality supplies, this view of life entails the sad,
1 ix. I.
2 Cf. iii. 12.
3 vi. 42; cf. vi. 14, 43 ; vii. 13.
4 On the joy of virtue, iii. 6 ; iv. 24 ; v. 9 ; vi. 7 ; vii. 13 ; viii.
26, 43 ; x. 33 ; xi. I, 16 ; xii. 29.
5 ii. 5 ; v. 9, 34 ; x. 6.
6 v. 6.
7 iv. 18, 51 ; v. 3 ; vi. 17 ; vii. 55 ; x. u. 8 vii. 68.
9 xii. 22.
10 See pp. Ixvi. and Ixxxi.