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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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v TO HIMSELF 67<br />

what is a name but so much rattle and sound ?<br />

Life and all its prizes are empty, rotten, insig-<br />

nificant, snapping puppies or quarrelsome children,<br />

that laugh and anon fall <strong>to</strong> crying. Faith and<br />

honour, justice and truth have taken wing<br />

From widewayed<br />

earth <strong>to</strong> heaven. 1<br />

What then still detains you here ? The objects<br />

<strong>of</strong> sense are changeful and unstable ; the organs<br />

<strong>of</strong> sense dim, and easily imposed upon ; poor soul<br />

itself mere exhalation <strong>of</strong> the blood. And good<br />

repute in such a world is emptiness. What then ?<br />

serenely you await the end, be it extinction or<br />

transmutation. While the hour yet tarries, what<br />

help is there ? what, but <strong>to</strong> reverence and bless<br />

the gods, <strong>to</strong> do good <strong>to</strong> men, " <strong>to</strong> endure and<br />

<strong>to</strong> refrain " ? and <strong>of</strong> all that lies outside the<br />

bounds <strong>of</strong> flesh and breath, <strong>to</strong> remember that it is<br />

not yours, nor in your power.<br />

Life in smooth flow is yours, if only you hold 34<br />

straight on, keeping the track in views and acts.<br />

Two things are common <strong>to</strong> the soul <strong>of</strong> god, the<br />

soul <strong>of</strong> man, and the soul <strong>of</strong> every rational creature.<br />

First, another cannot contravene their purpose;<br />

secondly, in disposition<br />

and action attuned <strong>to</strong><br />

1<br />

Hesiod, Works and Days, v. 197.

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