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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

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34 MARCUS ANTONINUS BOOK<br />

or hill ;<br />

and you <strong>to</strong>o know full well what that yearn-<br />

ing means. Surely a very simple wish ;<br />

for at what<br />

hour you will, you can retire in<strong>to</strong> yourself. No-<br />

where can man find retirement more peaceful and<br />

untroubled than in his own soul ; specially he who<br />

hath s<strong>to</strong>res within, a glance at which straightway<br />

sets him at perfect ease ; meaning by ease good<br />

order in the soul, this and nothing else. Ever<br />

and anon grant yourself this retirement, and so<br />

renew yourself. Have a few principles brief and<br />

elemental, recurrence <strong>to</strong> which will suffice <strong>to</strong> shut<br />

out the court and all its ways, and anon send you<br />

back unchafing <strong>to</strong> the tasks <strong>to</strong> which you must<br />

return. What is it chafes you ? Men's evil-doing ?<br />

Do but fall back upon your tenet, that rational<br />

beings exist for one another,<br />

that forbearance is a<br />

part <strong>of</strong> justice, that wrong-doing is involuntary,<br />

and think <strong>of</strong> all the feuds, suspicions,<br />

hates and<br />

brawls, that ere now lie stretched in ashes ; think,<br />

and be at rest. Or is it the portion assigned<br />

you in the universe, at which you<br />

chafe ? Recall<br />

<strong>to</strong> mind the alternative either a foreseeing pro-<br />

vidence, or blind a<strong>to</strong>ms and all the abounding<br />

pro<strong>of</strong>s that the world is as it were a city. Or is<br />

it bodily troubles that assail ? Realise again that

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