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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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vin TO HIMSELF 113<br />

Secunda ; first Diotimos, then Epitynchanos ;<br />

first Faustina, then <strong>An<strong>to</strong>ninus</strong>. And so always.<br />

First Hadrian, then Celer. The keen wits that<br />

were, the prophets, or the magnates, where are<br />

they now ? keen wits like Charax, Demetrius the<br />

Pla<strong>to</strong>nist, Eudaimon and the like. All lived their<br />

little day, all long since dead ; some denied even<br />

brief remembrance, some passed in<strong>to</strong> a tale ; or<br />

fading<br />

ere now out <strong>of</strong> tales. Think on these<br />

things, and remember that either your mortal com-<br />

pound must be dispersed in<strong>to</strong> its a<strong>to</strong>ms, or else<br />

the breath <strong>of</strong> life must be extinguished, or be<br />

transmuted and enter a new order.<br />

Man's mirth is <strong>to</strong> do man's proper work ; and 26<br />

it is proper <strong>to</strong> man <strong>to</strong> wish well <strong>to</strong> his kind, <strong>to</strong><br />

rise superior <strong>to</strong> the motions <strong>of</strong> sense, <strong>to</strong> distinguish<br />

impressions that are plausible, and <strong>to</strong> survey at<br />

large Nature and her processes.<br />

Man has three relations : first <strong>to</strong> the physical 27<br />

organ, his material shell : secondly,<br />

<strong>to</strong> the divine<br />

cause, from which proceed all things for all ;<br />

thirdly, <strong>to</strong> those with whom he has <strong>to</strong> do.<br />

Pain is either an evil for the body and if so, 28<br />

let body state its case ; or for the soul but the<br />

soul can maintain its own unclouded calm, and

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