BOOK TWELVE

  ALL those things at which thou wishest to arrive by a circuitous

road, thou canst have now, if thou dost not refuse them to thyself.

And this means, if thou wilt take no notice of all the past, and trust

the future to providence, and direct the present only conformably to

piety and justice. Conformably to piety, that thou mayest be content

with the lot which is assigned to thee, for nature designed it for

thee and thee for it. Conformably to justice, that thou mayest always

speak the truth freely and without disguise, and do the things which

are agreeable to law and according to the worth of each. And let

neither another man's wickedness hinder thee, nor opinion nor voice,

nor yet the sensations of the poor flesh which has grown about thee;

for the passive part will look to this. If then, whatever the time may

be when thou shalt be near to thy departure, neglecting everything

else thou shalt respect only thy ruling faculty and the divinity

within thee, and if thou shalt be afraid not because thou must some

time cease to live, but if thou shalt fear never to have begun to live

according to nature- then thou wilt be a man worthy of the universe

which has produced thee, and thou wilt cease to be a stranger in thy

native land, and to wonder at things which happen daily as if they

were something unexpected, and to be dependent on this or that.

  God sees the minds (ruling principles) of all men bared of the

material vesture and rind and impurities. For with his intellectual

part alone he touches the intelligence only which has flowed and

been derived from himself into these bodies. And if thou also usest

thyself to do this, thou wilt rid thyself of thy much trouble. For

he who regards not the poor flesh which envelops him, surely will

not trouble himself by looking after raiment and dwelling and fame and

such like externals and show.

  The things are three of which thou art composed, a little body, a

little breath (life), intelligence. Of these the first two are

thine, so far as it is thy duty to take care of them; but the third

alone is properly thine. Therefore if thou shalt separate from

thyself, that is, from thy understanding, whatever others do or say,

and whatever thou hast done or said thyself, and whatever future

things trouble thee because they may happen, and whatever in the

body which envelops thee or in the breath (life), which is by nature

associated with the body, is attached to thee independent of thy will,

and whatever the external circumfluent vortex whirls round, so that

the intellectual power exempt from the things of fate can live pure

and free by itself, doing what is just and accepting what happens

and saying the truth: if thou wilt separate, I say, from this ruling

faculty the things which are attached to it by the impressions of

sense, and the things of time to come and of time that is past, and

wilt make thyself like Empedocles' sphere,

    All round, and in its joyous rest reposing;

and if thou shalt strive to live only what is really thy life, that

is, the present- then thou wilt be able to pass that portion of life

which remains for thee up to the time of thy death, free from

perturbations, nobly, and obedient to thy own daemon (to the god

that is within thee).

  I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more

than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion

of himself than on the opinion of others. If then a god or a wise

teacher should present himself to a man and bid him to think of

nothing and to design nothing which he would not express as soon as he

conceived it, he could not endure it even for a single day. So much

more respect have we to what our neighbours shall think of us than

to what we shall think of ourselves.

  How can it be that the gods after having arranged all things well

and benevolently for mankind, have overlooked this alone, that some

men and very good men, and men who, as we may say, have had most

communion with the divinity, and through pious acts and religious

observances have been most intimate with the divinity, when they

have once died should never exist again, but should be completely

extinguished?

  But if this is so, be assured that if it ought to have been

otherwise, the gods would have done it. For if it were just, it

would also be possible; and if it were according to nature, nature

would have had it so. But because it is not so, if in fact it is not

so, be thou convinced that it ought not to have been so:- for thou

seest even of thyself that in this inquiry thou art disputing with the

diety; and we should not thus dispute with the gods, unless they

were most excellent and most just;- but if this is so, they would not

have allowed anything in the ordering of the universe to be

neglected unjustly and irrationally.

  Practise thyself even in the things which thou despairest of

accomplishing. For even the left hand, which is ineffectual for all

other things for want of practice, holds the bridle more vigorously

than the right hand; for it has been practised in this.

  Consider in what condition both in body and soul a man should be

when he is overtaken by death; and consider the shortness of life, the

boundless abyss of time past and future, the feebleness of all matter.

  Contemplate the formative principles (forms) of things bare of their

coverings; the purposes of actions; consider what pain is, what

pleasure is, and death, and fame; who is to himself the cause of his

uneasiness; how no man is hindered by another; that everything is

opinion.

  In the application of thy principles thou must be like the

pancratiast, not like the gladiator; for the gladiator lets fall the

sword which he uses and is killed; but the other always has his

hand, and needs to do nothing else than use it.

  See what things are in themselves, dividing them into matter, form

and purpose.

  What a power man has to do nothing except what God will approve, and

to accept all that God may give him.

  With respect to that which happens conformably to nature, we ought

to blame neither gods, for they do nothing wrong either voluntarily or

involuntarily, nor men, for they do nothing wrong except

involuntarily. Consequently we should blame nobody.

  How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at

anything which happens in life.

  Either there is a fatal necessity and invincible order, or a kind

Providence, or a confusion without a purpose and without a director

(Book IV). If then there is an invincible necessity, why dost thou

resist? But if there is a Providence which allows itself to be

propitiated, make thyself worthy of the help of the divinity. But if

there is a confusion without governor, be content that in such a

tempest thou hast in thyself a certain ruling intelligence. And even

if the tempest carry thee away, let it carry away the poor flesh,

the poor breath, everything else; for the intelligence at least it

will not carry away.

  Does the light of the lamp shine without losing its splendour

until it is extinguished; and shall the truth which is in thee and

justice and temperance be extinguished before thy death?

  When a man has presented the appearance of having done wrong, say,

How then do I know if this is a wrongful act? And even if he has

done wrong, how do I know that he has not condemned himself? and so

this is like tearing his own face. Consider that he, who would not

have the bad man do wrong, is like the man who would not have the

fig-tree to bear juice in the figs and infants to cry and the horse to

neigh, and whatever else must of necessity be. For what must a man

do who has such a character? If then thou art irritable, cure this

man's disposition.

  If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say

it. For let thy efforts be-

  In everything always observe what the thing is which produces for

thee an appearance, and resolve it by dividing it into the formal, the

material, the purpose, and the time within which it must end.

  Perceive at last that thou hast in thee something better and more

divine than the things which cause the various affects, and as it were

pull thee by the strings. What is there now in my mind? Is it fear, or

suspicion, or desire, or anything of the kind?

  First, do nothing inconsiderately, nor without a purpose. Second,

make thy acts refer to nothing else than to a social end.

  Consider that before long thou wilt be nobody and nowhere, nor

will any of the things exist which thou now seest, nor any of those

who are now living. For all things are formed by nature to change

and be turned and to perish in order that other things in continuous

succession may exist.

  Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power.

Take away then, when thou choosest, thy opinion, and like a mariner,

who has doubled the promontory, thou wilt find calm, everything

stable, and a waveless bay.

  Any one activity whatever it may be, when it has ceased at its

proper time, suffers no evil because it has ceased; nor he who has

done this act, does he suffer any evil for this reason that the act

has ceased. In like manner then the whole which consists of all the

acts, which is our life, if it cease at its proper time, suffers no

evil for this reason that it has ceased; nor he who has terminated

this series at the proper time, has he been ill dealt with. But the

proper time and the limit nature fixes, sometimes as in old age the

peculiar nature of man, but always the universal nature, by the change

of whose parts the whole universe continues ever young and perfect.

And everything which is useful to the universal is always good and

in season. Therefore the termination of life for every man is no evil,

because neither is it shameful, since it is both independent of the

will and not opposed to the general interest, but it is good, since it

is seasonable and profitable to and congruent with the universal.

For thus too he is moved by the deity who is moved in the same

manner with the deity and moved towards the same things in his mind.

  These three principles thou must have in readiness. In the things

which thou doest do nothing either inconsiderately or otherwise than

as justice herself would act; but with respect to what may happen to

thee from without, consider that it happens either by chance or

according to Providence, and thou must neither blame chance nor accuse

Providence. Second, consider what every being is from the seed to

the time of its receiving a soul, and from the reception of a soul

to the giving back of the same, and of what things every being is

compounded and into what things it is resolved. Third, if thou

shouldst suddenly be raised up above the earth, and shouldst look down

on human things, and observe the variety of them how great it is,

and at the same time also shouldst see at a glance how great is the

number of beings who dwell around in the air and the aether,

consider that as often as thou shouldst be raised up, thou wouldst see

the same things, sameness of form and shortness of duration. Are these

things to be proud of?

  Cast away opinion: thou art saved. Who then hinders thee from

casting it away?

  When thou art troubled about anything, thou hast forgotten this,

that all things happen according to the universal nature; and

forgotten this, that a man's wrongful act is nothing to thee; and

further thou hast forgotten this, that everything which happens,

always happened so and will happen so, and now happens so

everywhere; forgotten this too, how close is the kinship between a man

and the whole human race, for it is a community, not of a little blood

or seed, but of intelligence. And thou hast forgotten this too, that

every man's intelligence is a god, and is an efflux of the deity;

and forgotten this, that nothing is a man's own, but that his child

and his body and his very soul came from the deity; forgotten this,

that everything is opinion; and lastly thou hast forgotten that

every man lives the present time only, and loses only this.

  Constantly bring to thy recollection those who have complained

greatly about anything, those who have been most conspicuous by the

greatest fame or misfortunes or enmities or fortunes of any kind: then

think where are they all now? Smoke and ash and a tale, or not even

a tale. And let there be present to thy mind also everything of this

sort, how Fabius Catullinus lived in the country, and Lucius Lupus

in his gardens, and Stertinius at Baiae, and Tiberius at Capreae and

Velius Rufus (or Rufus at Velia); and in fine think of the eager

pursuit of anything conjoined with pride; and how worthless everything

is after which men violently strain; and how much more philosophical

it is for a man in the opportunities presented to him to show.