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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

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ii4 MARCUS ANTONINUS BOOK<br />

refuse <strong>to</strong> view it as evil. For every judgment or<br />

impulse or inclination or avoidance is within, and<br />

nothing evil can force entrance there.<br />

29 Efface impressions, reiterating <strong>to</strong> yourself It<br />

rests now with me, that within this soul <strong>of</strong> mine<br />

there be no vice, nor desire, nor any perturbation<br />

at all ; perceiving the true nature <strong>of</strong> all things, I<br />

use each at its proper worth. Remember this<br />

prerogative is yours by nature.<br />

30 Alike in Senate and in individual intercourse,<br />

let your language be dignified, but not elaborate ;<br />

your<br />

words all sound.<br />

31 Look at the court <strong>of</strong> Augustus wife, daughter,<br />

<strong>of</strong>fspring, elders, sister, Agrippa, kinsmen, inti-<br />

mates, friends, Areius, Maecenas, physicians, priests<br />

the whole circle dead. Pass again <strong>to</strong> other<br />

instances, <strong>to</strong> the death not <strong>of</strong> an individual, but <strong>of</strong><br />

a s<strong>to</strong>ck, such as the Pompeii, and <strong>to</strong> the super-<br />

scription graven upon <strong>to</strong>mbs LAST OF HIS LINE :<br />

reflect how hard his forefathers strained,<br />

<strong>to</strong> leave<br />

behind them a successor ; and how after all there<br />

needs must be a last ;<br />

tion <strong>of</strong> a long line.<br />

and here finally the extinc-<br />

32 In every single action try <strong>to</strong> make life a whole :<br />

if each, so far as it can, contributes its part, be

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