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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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i;8 MARCUS ANTONINUS BOOK<br />

say, all that you have yourself done or said, all<br />

that perturbs you for the future, all that belongs<br />

<strong>to</strong> your material shell or vital breath and lies out-<br />

side your own control, all finally that sweeps past<br />

you in the swirl <strong>of</strong> circumstance, if thus exempting<br />

and clearing your mind -faculty from the play<br />

<strong>of</strong> destiny, you enable it <strong>to</strong> live free and un-<br />

restricted, doing what is just, willing what<br />

befalls, and saying what is true if, I say, you<br />

thus separate from your Inner Self the outer<br />

ties and attachments, the influences <strong>of</strong> time past<br />

and time <strong>to</strong> come, and so make yourself in the<br />

language <strong>of</strong> Empedocles<br />

A rounded sphere, poised in rotating rest ;<br />

and train yourself <strong>to</strong> live in what alone is life<br />

the present, then you will be able,<br />

for life's re-<br />

mainder and till death, <strong>to</strong> live on constant <strong>to</strong> the<br />

deity within, unperturbed, ingenuous, serene.<br />

How strange it is, that every one loves himself<br />

above all others, yet attaches less weight <strong>to</strong> his<br />

own view <strong>of</strong> himself, than <strong>to</strong> that <strong>of</strong> other men.<br />

Suppose, for instance, some god or some wise<br />

teacher s<strong>to</strong>od at a man's elbow and bade him<br />

utter aloud each thought that came in<strong>to</strong> his heart

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