Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

ii TO HIMSELF 15
Is violence done you ? Then do not violence 6
to thyself, my soul. Not for long will thy day
for self-reverence be. Each lives but once ; thy
life is all but finished, and still instead of respect-
ing thyself alone, thou dost stake thy fortunes
upon
the souls of others.
Pressure of outer claims distracts you. Then 7
give yourself some respite from the taskwork of
new good, and have done with the restless whirl.
But there is want of concentration in its other form
to guard against ; there are the triflers in action,
tired of life, with no fixed aim towards which to
direct each endeavour, yes, and each regard.
It were hard to find a man distempered by 8
not understanding what is passing in another's
soul ; but those who do not intelligently follow
the motions of their own, cannot but be in a
distemper.
Ever bear in mind what Nature is at large, 9
what my own nature is, how this stands to that,
how small a portion of how great a whole, and
further, that no man can prevent you from
keeping act and word always
nature of which you are a part.
accordant with that
In comparing sins so far as they admit of 10