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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

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BOOK vin MARCUS ANTONINUS 107<br />

indulgence, nowhere. Where then is happiness ?<br />

in doing that which man's nature craves. How<br />

do it? by holding principles,<br />

from which come<br />

endeavours and actions. What principles ? prin-<br />

ciples <strong>to</strong>uching good and bad <strong>to</strong> wit, that<br />

nothing is good for a man, which does not make<br />

him just, temperate, brave, free ; nothing evil,<br />

that does not produce the opposite results.<br />

Of every action ask yourself, What does it 2<br />

mean for me ? shall I repent <strong>of</strong> it ? A little while<br />

and I am dead, and there is an end <strong>of</strong> all.<br />

Why crave for more, if only<br />

the work I am<br />

about is worthy <strong>of</strong> a being intellectual, social-<br />

minded, and on a par with god ?<br />

Alexander, Caesar, Pompey, what are they 3<br />

compared with Diogenes, Heraclitus, Socrates ?<br />

The latter saw in<strong>to</strong> things and what things were<br />

made <strong>of</strong>, and their Inner Selves were at one ; as<br />

for the former, how much foresight did they<br />

slaves !<br />

possess, and in how much were they<br />

Protest till you burst ! Men will go on all 4<br />

the same.<br />

First and foremost, keep unperturbed. For 5<br />

all things follow the law <strong>of</strong> Nature : and in a<br />

little while you will vanish and be nought, even

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