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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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102 MARCUS ANTONINUS BOOK<br />

essential <strong>to</strong> remember this continually; it will make<br />

you gentler with every one.<br />

64 In sickness or pain remind yourself that it<br />

cannot demean or vitiate your pilot understanding ;<br />

it does not impair it on the universal or the social<br />

side. In most cases you may find support in the<br />

saying <strong>of</strong> Epicurus, that<br />

"<br />

pain cannot be past<br />

bearing or everlasting, if only you bear in mind<br />

its limits, and do not let fancy supplement them."<br />

Remember <strong>to</strong>o that many things which surprise<br />

us out <strong>of</strong> patience are really in the same category<br />

as pain heaviness for instance, feverishness, or<br />

want <strong>of</strong> appetite.<br />

Whenever any <strong>of</strong> these makes<br />

you discontent, say <strong>to</strong> yourself that you are giving<br />

in <strong>to</strong> pain.<br />

65 Do not you feel <strong>to</strong>wards the inhuman, as<br />

human beings <strong>to</strong>o <strong>of</strong>ten do <strong>to</strong> one another.<br />

66 How do we know that Telauges was not<br />

morally superior <strong>to</strong> Socrates ? It proves nothing<br />

that Socrates died a more notable death, or was<br />

a more pr<strong>of</strong>icient dialectician, or showed more<br />

endurance on a frosty night, or had the spirit <strong>to</strong><br />

resist when ordered <strong>to</strong> arrest Leon,<br />

or that he<br />

*<br />

perked his head ' 1 in the streets. On all this<br />

1 Cf. Pla<strong>to</strong>, Symp. 221 F from Aris<strong>to</strong>phanes, Clouds 362.

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