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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

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xii TO HIMSELF 185<br />

every case so happen :<br />

further, that you forget<br />

man's brotherhood with all mankind, not by blood<br />

or physical descent, but by community<br />

in mind :<br />

and yet again that each man's mind is god, an<br />

efflux <strong>of</strong> deity ; that nothing is strictly a man's<br />

own, but even his child, his body, his very soul,<br />

have come from god ; that the view taken is<br />

everything ; and that every one can live, or lose,<br />

the present alone.<br />

Dwell in retrospect on those who gave resent- 27<br />

ment rein, who knew the transports <strong>of</strong> big ambi-<br />

tions, failures, feuds, and every change and chance.<br />

Then reflect, Where are they all now ? Smoke,<br />

ashes, and a tale, or less than a tale. Recall each<br />

instance <strong>of</strong> the kind Fabius Catulinus on his<br />

farm, Lucius Lupus in his gardens, Stertinius at<br />

Baiae, Tiberius at Capreae, Velius Itufus, or any<br />

other such fanciful endeavour ! how paltry all such<br />

striving ! how<br />

far more philosophical simply <strong>to</strong> use<br />

the material supplied <strong>to</strong> make oneself just and<br />

wise and a follower <strong>of</strong> gods ! The<br />

pride which<br />

masks as modesty is the most perverse <strong>of</strong> all.<br />

To those who press the question, ' Where have 28<br />

you seen the gods, whence your<br />

conviction <strong>of</strong><br />

their existence, that you worship them as you do ? '

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