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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

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xi TO HIMSELF 171<br />

measure <strong>of</strong> its power. Anger, like grief, is a<br />

mark <strong>of</strong> weakness ; both mean being wounded,<br />

and wincing.<br />

Tenth and lastly a gift, so please you, from<br />

Apollo leader <strong>of</strong> the Choir. Not <strong>to</strong> expect the<br />

worthless <strong>to</strong> do wrong, is idiotcy : it is asking an<br />

impossibility. To allow them <strong>to</strong> wrong others,<br />

and <strong>to</strong> claim exemption for yourself, is graceless<br />

and tyrannical.<br />

There are four moods <strong>to</strong> which your Inner Self 19<br />

is liable, against which you must constantly be<br />

upon the watch, and as soon as detected suppress<br />

with the appropriate comment. Either,<br />

this is a<br />

needless fancy : or, this is anti-social : or, this does<br />

not come from your own heart and not <strong>to</strong> speak<br />

from one's heart is a moral inconsequence. Or,<br />

fourthly, you will never forgive yourself;<br />

for such<br />

a feeling implies subjection and abasement <strong>of</strong> the<br />

diviner element in you <strong>to</strong> the perishable and less<br />

honourable portion, the body<br />

apprehensions.<br />

By nature breath and all the igneous<br />

and its coarser<br />

element 20<br />

in your composition ascend ; yet in obedience <strong>to</strong><br />

the order <strong>of</strong> things, they accept subordination and<br />

keep their place in the compound. Conversely,

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