Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

Ixxx INTRODUCTION SECT.
them at arm's length, standing without, stating their
case, awaiting judgment. 1 Mind retains absolute power
of self-determination, however imperiously impressions
clamour and agitate. It is 'self-swayed, self-moved,'
enabled by selective and circumscriptive power 2 to
'
modify the objects upon which it plays
the judgments which 3
it approves.'
the reactions of circumstance,
into accord with
It is proof against
for 'The view taken
is everything,' as Marcus again and again reiterates. 4
'
Affect what will the parts of my being
from without !
the parts affected can if they please find fault. So long
as I do not view the infliction as an evil, I remain
'
Efface impression ; stay impulse ; quench
inclination ; be master of your Inner Self ' 6
uninjured.' 5
the business and prerogative of mind.
This unconditional sovereignty
that is
of reason in the
individual life secures to man that perfect independence
of the will which seemed the indispensable condition of
virtue. Proof against affections of the flesh, disturb-
ances of the emotions, and all 'slings and arrows' of
outrageous fortune, he becomes 'a. citadel impregnable
to passion,' 7 a headland round which all billows of
circumstance boil and break in vain. 8
But, as the event
proved, his independence is gained at the expense of a
yet more commanding subordination. If,
as the life-
power of the universe, the controlling faculty has rights
1
iii. 1 6 ; iv. 3 ; v. 19 ; vii. 2, 68 ; viii. 28 ; ix. 15 xi. 16.
;
2 v. 26 ; viii. 36 ; xii. 3.
3
v. 19 ; vi. 8 ; vii. 16, 67 ; xi. I.
4 ii. 15 ; iii. 9 ; iv. 3, 39 ; vi. 52 ; xi. 18 (7) ; xii. 8, 22, 25, 26.
6 vii. 14.
7 viii. 48.
6 ix. 7 ; cf. iv. 24 ; v. 2 ; vii. 29 ; viii. 29, 47.
8 iv. 49.