Volume 1 - Discourses - Books I - II - College of Stoic Philosophers

BOOK I. xiv. 11-17And yet, says one, I cannot follow all these thingsat one and the same time. But does anyone goso far as to tellyou this, namely,, that you possessa faculty which is equal to that of Zeus ? Yetnone the less He has stationed by each man'sside as guardian his particular genius, 1 and hascommitted the man to his care, and that too aguardian who never sleeps and is not to be beguiled.For to what other guardian, better and more careful,could He have committed each one of us? Wherefore,when you close your doors and make darknesswithin, remember never to say that you are alone,for you are not alone ; nay, God is within, and yourown geniusis within. And what need have theyof light in order to see what you are doing ? Yes,and to this God you also ought to swear allegiance,as the soldiers do to Caesar. They are but hirelings,yet they swear that they will put the safety ofCaesar above everything;and shall you, indeed, whohave been counted worthy of blessings so numerousand so great be unwilling to swear, or, when youhave sworn, to abide by your oath ? And what shallyou swear ? Never to disobey under any circumstances,never to prefer charges, never to find faultwith anything that God has given, never to let yourwill rebel when you have either to do or to suffersomething that is inevitable. Can the oath of thesoldiers in any way be compared with this of ours ?Out there men swear never to prefer another inhonour above Caesar ;but here we swear to preferourselves in honour above everything else.especially Menander, Epitr. 881 ff., with Capps's note.Almost exactly the same idea appears also in MarcusAurelius, V. 27. 105