Stoics and Saints - College of Stoic Philosophers

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OPTIMISM OF AURELIUS. 63
To go from among men, if there are gods, is not a thing to be afraid
of, for the gods will not involve thee in evil but if indeed
; they do not
exist, or if they have no concern about human affairs, what is it to me to
live in a universe devoid of gods or devoid of Providence. But indeed
they do exist, and do care for human things and
; they have put all the
things in man s power
to enable him not to fall into real evils.
l
:
Again
Love the art, poor as it may be, which thou hast learned, and be con
tent with it ;
and pass through the rest of life like one who has intrusted
to the gods with his whole soul all that he has, making thyself neither
the tyrant nor the slave of any man. 2
Still higher is the following :
And he does live with the gods who constantly
Live with the gods.
shews to them that his own soul is satisfied with that which is assigned to
him, and that it does all that the demon wishes which Zeus hath given to
every man for his guardian and guide, a 3
portion of himself.
And this perhaps
crowns the whole :
To those who ask where hast thou seen the gods or how dost thou
comprehend that they exist, and so w r orshippest them, I answer in the
first place that they may be seen even with the eyes in
;
the second place
neither have I seen my own soul, and yet I honour it. Thus then with
respect to the gods, from what I constantly experience of their power,
from this I comprehend that 4
they exist and I venerate them.
In these passages there is something
which in the attitude
of the soul, in the belief, in the aspiration, is a clear approxi
mation to the Christian piety, which was kindled and nourished
by what it knew of God.
The next point in which there is an approach to the
Christian view is the deep
conviction which he cherishes
of the goodness of the order of the world. Take these words
of Epictetus
: But
what says Zeus ?
Epictetus,
if it were
possible I would have made your little body and your little pro
perty free and not exposed to hinderance. . . . But
since I am
not able to do for you what I have mentioned, I have given
you a small portion of
us."
5
This is the underlying
1
Meditations, II. 11.
4 Ibid., XIT. 29.
2 Ibid., IV. 31.
5
Bk. I. ch. 1.
:J
Ibid., V. 27.