BOOK THREE

  WE OUGHT to consider not only that our life is daily wasting away

and a smaller part of it is left, but another thing also must be taken

into the account, that if a man should live longer, it is quite

uncertain whether the understanding will still continue sufficient for

the comprehension of things, and retain the power of contemplation

which strives to acquire the knowledge of the divine and the human.

For if he shall begin to fall into dotage, perspiration and nutrition

and imagination and appetite, and whatever else there is of the kind,

will not fail; but the power of making use of ourselves, and filling

up the measure of our duty, and clearly separating all appearances,

and considering whether a man should now depart from life, and

whatever else of the kind absolutely requires a disciplined reason,

all this is already extinguished. We must make haste then, not only

because we are daily nearer to death, but also because the conception

of things and the understanding of them cease first.

  We ought to observe also that even the things which follow after the

things which are produced according to nature contain something

pleasing and attractive. For instance, when bread is baked some

parts are split at the surface, and these parts which thus open, and

have a certain fashion contrary to the purpose of the baker's art, are

beautiful in a manner, and in a peculiar way excite a desire for

eating. And again, figs, when they are quite ripe, gape open; and in

the ripe olives the very circumstance of their being near to

rottenness adds a peculiar beauty to the fruit. And the ears of corn

bending down, and the lion's eyebrows, and the foam which flows from

the mouth of wild boars, and many other things- though they are far

from being beautiful, if a man should examine them severally- still,

because they are consequent upon the things which are formed by

nature, help to adorn them, and they please the mind; so that if a man

should have a feeling and deeper insight with respect to the things

which are produced in the universe, there is hardly one of those which

follow by way of consequence which will not seem to him to be in a

manner disposed so as to give pleasure. And so he will see even the

real gaping jaws of wild beasts with no less pleasure than those which

painters and sculptors show by imitation; and in an old woman and an

old man he will be able to see a certain maturity and comeliness;

and the attractive loveliness of young persons he will be able to look

on with chaste eyes; and many such things will present themselves, not

pleasing to every man, but to him only who has become truly familiar

with nature and her works.

  Hippocrates after curing many diseases himself fell sick and died.

The Chaldaei foretold the deaths of many, and then fate caught them

too. Alexander, and Pompeius, and Caius Caesar, after so often

completely destroying whole cities, and in battle cutting to pieces

many ten thousands of cavalry and infantry, themselves too at last

departed from life. Heraclitus, after so many speculations on the

conflagration of the universe, was filled with water internally and

died smeared all over with mud. And lice destroyed Democritus; and

other lice killed Socrates. What means all this? Thou hast embarked,

thou hast made the voyage, thou art come to shore; get out. If

indeed to another life, there is no want of gods, not even there.

But if to a state without sensation, thou wilt cease to be held by

pains and pleasures, and to be a slave to the vessel, which is as much

inferior as that which serves it is superior: for the one is

intelligence and deity; the other is earth and corruption.

  Do not waste the remainder of thy life in thoughts about others,

when thou dost not refer thy thoughts to some object of common

utility. For thou losest the opportunity of doing something else

when thou hast such thoughts as these, What is such a person doing,

and why, and what is he saying, and what is he thinking of, and what

is he contriving, and whatever else of the kind makes us wander away

from the observation of our own ruling power. We ought then to check

in the series of our thoughts everything that is without a purpose and

useless, but most of all the over-curious feeling and the malignant;

and a man should use himself to think of those things only about which

if one should suddenly ask, What hast thou now in thy thoughts? With

perfect openness thou mightest, immediately answer, This or That; so

that from thy words it should be plain that everything in thee is

simple and benevolent, and such as befits a social animal, and one

that cares not for thoughts about pleasure or sensual enjoyments at

all, nor has any rivalry or envy and suspicion, or anything else for

which thou wouldst blush if thou shouldst say that thou hadst it in

thy mind. For the man who is such and no longer delays being among the

number of the best, is like a priest and minister of the gods, using

too the deity which is planted within him, which makes the man

uncontaminated by pleasure, unharmed by any pain, untouched by any

insult, feeling no wrong, a fighter in the noblest fight, one who

cannot be overpowered by any passion, dyed deep with justice,

accepting with all his soul everything which happens and is assigned

to him as his portion; and not often, nor yet without great

necessity and for the general interest, imagining what another says,

or does, or thinks. For it is only what belongs to himself that he

makes the matter for his activity; and he constantly thinks of that

which is allotted to himself out of the sum total of things, and he

makes his own acts fair, and he is persuaded that his own portion is

good. For the lot which is assigned to each man is carried along

with him and carries him along with it. And he remembers also that

every rational animal is his kinsman, and that to care for all men

is according to man's nature; and a man should hold on to the

opinion not of all, but of those only who confessedly live according

to nature. But as to those who live not so, he always bears in mind

what kind of men they are both at home and from home, both by night

and by day, and what they are, and with what men they live an impure

life. Accordingly, he does not value at all the praise which comes

from such men, since they are not even satisfied with themselves.

  Labour not unwillingly, nor without regard to the common interest,

nor without due consideration, nor with distraction; nor let studied

ornament set off thy thoughts, and be not either a man of many

words, or busy about too many things. And further, let the deity which

is in thee be the guardian of a living being, manly and of ripe age,

and engaged in matter political, and a Roman, and a ruler, who has

taken his post like a man waiting for the signal which summons him

from life, and ready to go, having need neither of oath nor of any

man's testimony. Be cheerful also, and seek not external help nor

the tranquility which others give. A man then must stand erect, not be

kept erect by others.

  If thou findest in human life anything better than justice, truth,

temperance, fortitude, and, in a word, anything better than thy own

mind's self-satisfaction in the things which it enables thee to do

according to right reason, and in the condition that is assigned to

thee without thy own choice; if, I say, thou seest anything better

than this, turn to it with all thy soul, and enjoy that which thou

hast found to be the best. But if nothing appears to be better than

the deity which is planted in thee, which has subjected to itself

all thy appetites, and carefully examines all the impressions, and, as

Socrates said, has detached itself from the persuasions of sense,

and has submitted itself to the gods, and cares for mankind; if thou

findest everything else smaller and of less value than this, give

place to nothing else, for if thou dost once diverge and incline to

it, thou wilt no longer without distraction be able to give the

preference to that good thing which is thy proper possession and thy

own; for it is not right that anything of any other kind, such as

praise from the many, or power, or enjoyment of pleasure, should

come into competition with that which is rationally and politically or

practically good. All these things, even though they may seem to adapt

themselves to the better things in a small degree, obtain the

superiority all at once, and carry us away. But do thou, I say, simply

and freely choose the better, and hold to it.- But that which is

useful is the better.- Well then, if it is useful to thee as a

rational being, keep to it; but if it is only useful to thee as an

animal, say so, and maintain thy judgement without arrogance: only

take care that thou makest the inquiry by a sure method.

  Never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall compel

thee to break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect, to hate any

man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything

which needs walls and curtains: for he who has preferred to everything

intelligence and daemon and the worship of its excellence, acts no

tragic part, does not groan, will not need either solitude or much

company; and, what is chief of all, he will live without either

pursuing or flying from death; but whether for a longer or a shorter

time he shall have the soul inclosed in the body, he cares not at all:

for even if he must depart immediately, he will go as readily as if he

were going to do anything else which can be done with decency and

order; taking care of this only all through life, that his thoughts

turn not away from anything which belongs to an intelligent animal and

a member of a civil community.

  In the mind of one who is chastened and purified thou wilt find no

corrupt matter, nor impurity, nor any sore skinned over. Nor is his

life incomplete when fate overtakes him, as one may say of an actor

who leaves the stage before ending and finishing the play. Besides,

there is in him nothing servile, nor affected, nor too closely bound

to other things, nor yet detached from other things, nothing worthy of

blame, nothing which seeks a hiding-place.

  Reverence the faculty which produces opinion. On this faculty it

entirely depends whether there shall exist in thy ruling part any

opinion inconsistent with nature and the constitution of the

rational animal. And this faculty promises freedom from hasty

judgement, and friendship towards men, and obedience to the gods.

  Throwing away then all things, hold to these only which are few; and

besides bear in mind that every man lives only this present time,

which is an indivisible point, and that all the rest of his life is

either past or it is uncertain. Short then is the time which every man

lives, and small the nook of the earth where he lives; and short too

the longest posthumous fame, and even this only continued by a

succession of poor human beings, who will very soon die, and who

know not even themselves, much less him who died long ago.

  To the aids which have been mentioned let this one still be added:-

Make for thyself a definition or description of the thing which is

presented to thee, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing

it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and

tell thyself its proper name, and the names of the things of which

it has been compounded, and into which it will be resolved. For

nothing is so productive of elevation of mind as to be able to examine

methodically and truly every object which is presented to thee in

life, and always to look at things so as to see at the same time

what kind of universe this is, and what kind of use everything

performs in it, and what value everything has with reference to the

whole, and what with reference to man, who is a citizen of the highest

city, of which all other cities are like families; what each thing is,

and of what it is composed, and how long it is the nature of this

thing to endure which now makes an impression on me, and what virtue I

have need of with respect to it, such as gentleness, manliness, truth,

fidelity, simplicity, contentment, and the rest. Wherefore, on every

occasion a man should say: this comes from God; and this is

according to the apportionment and spinning of the thread of

destiny, and such-like coincidence and chance; and this is from one of

the same stock, and a kinsman and partner, one who knows not however

what is according to his nature. But I know; for this reason I

behave towards him according to the natural law of fellowship with

benevolence and justice. At the same time however in things

indifferent I attempt to ascertain the value of each.

  If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason

seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to

distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure, as if thou shouldst

be bound to give it back immediately; if thou holdest to this,

expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present

activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word

and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no

man who is able to prevent this.

  As physicians have always their instruments and knives ready for

cases which suddenly require their skill, so do thou have principles

ready for the understanding of things divine and human, and for

doing everything, even the smallest, with a recollection of the bond

which unites the divine and human to one another. For neither wilt

thou do anything well which pertains to man without at the same time

having a reference to things divine; nor the contrary.

  No longer wander at hazard; for neither wilt thou read thy own

memoirs, nor the acts of the ancient Romans and Hellenes, and the

selections from books which thou wast reserving for thy old age.

Hasten then to the end which thou hast before thee, and throwing

away idle hopes, come to thy own aid, if thou carest at all for

thyself, while it is in thy power.

  They know not how many things are signified by the words stealing,

sowing, buying, keeping quiet, seeing what ought to be done; for

this is not effected by the eyes, but by another kind of vision.

  Body, soul, intelligence: to the body belong sensations, to the soul

appetites, to the intelligence principles. To receive the

impressions of forms by means of appearances belongs even to

animals; to be pulled by the strings of desire belongs both to wild

beasts and to men who have made themselves into women, and to a

Phalaris and a Nero: and to have the intelligence that guides to the

things which appear suitable belongs also to those who do not

believe in the gods, and who betray their country, and do their impure

deeds when they have shut the doors. If then everything else is common

to all that I have mentioned, there remains that which is peculiar

to the good man, to be pleased and content with what happens, and with

the thread which is spun for him; and not to defile the divinity which

is planted in his breast, nor disturb it by a crowd of images, but

to preserve it tranquil, following it obediently as a god, neither

saying anything contrary to the truth, nor doing anything contrary

to justice. And if all men refuse to believe that he lives a simple,

modest, and contented life, he is neither angry with any of them,

nor does he deviate from the way which leads to the end of life, to

which a man ought to come pure, tranquil, ready to depart, and without

any compulsion perfectly reconciled to his lot.