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The Thoughts of The Emperor Marcus Aurel
The Thoughts of The Emperor Marcus Aurel
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MARCUS
AURELIUS
2 GINN
765.
1358
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THE THOUGHTS
OF
THE EMPEROR
LONG'S TRANSLATION
EDITED BY
EDWIN GINN
BOSTON, U.S.A.
GINN AND COMPANY
1893
765135f
Educ T 758.93.136
Harvard University,
COPYRIGHT, 1893,
By GINN & COMPANY. I
I
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PAGES
PREFACE.. V-IX
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH . XI-XX
THE THOUGHTS…….. I-175
PHILOSOPHY OF MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS.. 177-206
GENERAL INDEX 207-213
PREFACE .
OF
OF
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
72 THOUGHTS .
VII.
1 This is corrupt.
88 THOUGHTS.
God. The poet says that law rules all ―――― And it is
enough to remember that law rules all.
32. About death : whether it is a dispersion, or
a resolution into atoms, or annihilation , it is either
extinction or change.
33. About pain : the pain which is intolerable
carries us off ; but that which lasts a long time is
tolerable ; and the mind maintains its own tran
quillity by retiring into itself, and the ruling fac
ulty is not made worse . But the parts which are
harmed by pain, let them, if they can, give their
opinion about it.
34. About fame : look at the minds [of those
who seek fame] , observe what they are, and what
kind of things they avoid, and what kind of things
they pursue. And consider that as the heaps of
sand piled on one another hide the former sands,
so in life the events which go before are soon
covered by those which come after.
35. From Plato : The man who has an elevated
mind and takes a view of all time and of all sub
stance, dost thou suppose it possible for him to
think that human life is anything great ? It is not
possible, he said. - Such a man then will think
that death also is no evil . — Certainly not.
36. From Antisthenes : It is royal to do good
and to be abused.
37. It is a base thing for the countenance to be
obedient and to regulate and compose itself as the
mind commands, and for the mind not to be regu
lated and composed by itself.
1
90 THOUGHTS .
VIII.
IX.
X.
1
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS . 149
XI.
20. Thy aerial part and all the fiery parts which
are mingled in thee, though by nature they have an
upward tendency, still in obedience to the disposi
tion of the universe they are overpowered here in
the compound mass [the body] . And also the whole
of the earthy part in thee and the watery, though
their tendency is downward, still are raised up and
occupy a position which is not their natural one.
In this manner then the elemental parts obey the
universal ; for when they have been fixed in any
place, perforce they remain there until again the
universal shall sound the signal for dissolution . Is
it not then strange that thy intelligent part only
should be disobedient and discontented with its own
place ? And yet no force is imposed on it, but only
those things which are comformable to its nature :
still it does not submit, but is carried in the opposite
direction. For the movement towards injustice and
intemperance and to anger and grief and fear is
nothing else than the act of one who deviates from
nature. And also when the ruling faculty is dis
contented with anything that happens, then too it
deserts its post : for it is constituted for piety and
reverence towards the gods no less than for justice.
For these qualities also are comprehended under
the generic term of contentment with the consti
tution of things, and indeed they are prior to acts
of justice.
21. He who has not one and always the same
object in life, cannot be one and the same all
through his life . But what I have said is not
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 161
XII.
1 " Seen even with the eyes." It is supposed that this may
be explained by the Stoic doctrine, that the universe is a god
or living being (IV. 40) , and that the celestial bodies are gods
(VIII. 19) . But the emperor may mean that we know that the
gods exist, as he afterwards states it, because we see what
they do ; as we know that man has intellectual powers, be
cause we see what he does, and in no other way do we know it.
174 THOUGHTS.
OF
power not to fall into it. But that which does not
make a man worse , how can it make a man's life
worse ? But neither through ignorance , nor having
the knowledge but not the power to guard against
or correct these things , is it possible that the nature
of the universe has overlooked them ; nor is it pos
sible that it has made so great a mistake , either
through want of power or want of skill, that good
and evil should happen indiscriminately to the
good and the bad. But death certainly and life,
honor and dishonor , pain and pleasure , all these
things equally happen to good and bad men, being
things which make us neither better nor worse .
Therefore they are neither good nor evil. ”
The Ethical part of Antoninus' Philosophy fol
lows from his general principles. The end of all
his philosophy is to live conformably to Nature,
both a man's own nature and the nature of the
universe. Bishop Butler has explained what the
Greek philosophers meant when they spoke of liv
ing according to Nature , and he says that when it
is explained, as he has explained it and as they
understood it, it is, " a manner of speaking not
loose and undeterminate, but clear and distinct,
strictly just and true. " To live according to Nature
is to live according to a man's whole nature, not
according to a part of it, and to reverence the
divinity within him as the governor of all his
actions. "To the rational animal the same act is
according to nature and according to reason. "
That which is done contrary to reason is also an
196 PHILOSOPHY .
The paragraphs (par.) and lines (1.) are those of the sections.
Failure, X. 12.
Fame, worthlessness of, III. IO ; IV. 3 (l. 34), 19 , 33 (l. 10) ;
v. 33 ; VI. 16, 18 ; VII. 34 ; VIII. I , 44 ; IX. 30.
INDEX. 209
Justice, v. 34 ; X. II ; XI . IO.
Justice and reason identical, XI . I (sub f.) .
Justice prevails everywhere, IV. 10.
Magnanimity, x. 8.
Mankind, co-operation and fellowship of, one with another,
II. I (l. 11 ) , 16 ; III. (sub f.) , II (sub. f. ) ; IV. 4, 33 (sub f.) ;
v. 16 (1. 11 ) , 20 ; VI. 7, 14 (sub f. ), 23, 39 ; VII . 5, 13, 22, 55 ;
VIII. 12, 26, 34, 43, 59 ; IX. I , 9 ( sub f.) , 23 , 31 , 42 (sub f.) ;
x. 36 (1. 16) ; XI. 8, 21 ; XII . 20.
Mankind, folly and baseness of, V. 10 (l. 9) ; IX. 2, 3 (l. 13), 29 ;
X. 15, 19.
Mankind, ingratitude of, x. 36.
Material, the. See Formal.
Opinion, IV. 3 (sub f.) , 7, 12, 39 ; VI . 52, 57 ; VII. 2, 14, 16, 26,
68 ; VIII. 14, 29, 40, 47 , 49 ; IX. 13, 29 (l. 9), 32, 42 (l. 21 ) ;
X. 3 ; XI. 16, 18 ; XII. 22, 25.
Others' conduct not to be inquired into, III. 4 ; IV. 18 ; V. 25.
Others, opinion of, to be disregarded, vIII. 1 (l. 9 ) ; x. 8 (l. 12),
II ; XI. 13 ; XII. 4.
Others, we should be lenient towards, II. 13 (sub f.) ; III. II
(sub f.) ; IV. 3 (l. 16) ; v. 33 (l. 17) ; VI . 20, 27 ; VII. 26, 62,
63, 70 ; IX. II , 27 ; X. 4 ; XI. 9, 13, 18 ; XII. 16.
Others, we should examine the ruling principles of, IV. 38 ; IX.
18, 22, 27, 34.
Ourselves often to blame, for expecting men to act contrary
to their nature, IX. 42 (l. 25) .
Ourselves, reformation should begin with, XI. 29.
Ourselves, we should judge, X. 30 ; XI. 18 (par. 4).
DUE