The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius - College of Stoic Philosophers

134 THE THOUGHTS OF vi
[of men].
To that place then we must remove, where there
are so many great orators, and so many noble philosophers,
Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Socrates so
; many heroes of
former days, and so many generals after them, and tyrants ;
besides these, Eudoxus, Hipparchus, Archimedes, and
other men of acute natural talents, great minds, lovers of
labour, versatile, confident, mockers even of the perishable
and ephemeral
life of man, as Menippus and such as are like
him. As to all these consider that they have long been in
the dust. What harm then is this to them ;
and what to
those whose names are altogether unknown ? One thing
here is worth a great deal, to pass thy
life in truth and
justice, with a benevolent disposition even to liars and
unjust men.
48. When thou wishest to delight thyself, think of the
virtues of those who live with thee ;
for instance, the
activity of one, and the modesty of another, and the
liberality of a third, and some other good quality of a
fourth. For nothing delights so much as the examples
of the virtues, when they are exhibited in the morals of
those who live with us and present themselves in abund
ance, as far as is possible. Wherefore we must keep them
before us.
49. Art thou dissatisfied because thou weighest only so
litrae and not three hundred ? Be not dissatisfied
many
then that thou must live only so many years and not more ;
for as thou art satisfied with the amount of substance which
has been assigned to thee, so be content with the time.
50. Let us try to persuade them [men]. But act even
against their will, when the principles of justice lead that
way. If however any man by using force stands in thy
way, betake thyself to contentment and tranquillity, and
at the same time employ the hindrance towards the exercise
of some other virtue ;
and remember that thy attempt was
with a reservation [conditionally], that thou didst not
desire to do impossibilities. What then didst thou desire ?