Meditations || by Marcus Aurelius || Sections 03 || Quotes Pin

The meditations of Marcus aelius by Marcus aelius antoninus translated by George long chapter 3 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 un 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 because we are daily nearer to death but also because the conception of things and the understanding of them cease first two 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 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 BS and many other things though they are far from being beautiful if a man should examine them severly still because they are cons consequent upon the 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 a 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 cess and the attractive loveliness of young persons he will be able to look on with chased 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 three hypocrates after curing many diseases himself fell sick and died the chaai foretold the deaths of many and then fate caught them too Alexander and pompas and kaius Caesar after so often completely destroying whole cities and in battle cutting to Pieces many tens of thousands of Cavalry and infantry themselves too at last departed from life heraclitus after so many speculations on the configration of the universe was filled with water internally and died smeared all over with mud and Li destroyed democratus and other Li 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 it to 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 four 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 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 had 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 to 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 died deep with Justice accepting with all his soul everything which happens and is assigned to him as his position and not even 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 act 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 the 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 five labor not unwillingly nor without regard to common interest nor without due consideration nor with destrction nor let studied ornaments 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 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 must stand erect not be kept erect by others six if thou findest in human life anything better than Justice truth Temperance Temperance fortitude and in a word anything better than thy own mind's self-satisfaction action 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 SE 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 is 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 will 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 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 better well then if it is only 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 judgment without arrogance only take care that thou make us the inquiry by a sure method seven never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall compel thee to break thy promise to lose thy self reses 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 else his own intelligence and Demon 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 shorter time he shall have the soul enclosed in the body he cares not at all for even if he must depart immediately he will go as readily as if he we're 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 eight in the mind of one who is chastened and purified thou Wilt find no corrupt matter no impurity nor any s 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 nine reverence The Faculty which produces opinion on this faculty it entirely depends whether there shall exist in their ruling part any opinion inconsistent with nature and the constitution of the rational animal and this faculty promises freedom from Hasty judgment and friendship towards men and obedience to the gods 10 throwing away then all things hold to these only which are few and besides bear in mind that every man lives only his present time which is an indivisible point and that all the rest of his life is either past or it is UN uncertain short then is the time which every man lives and small the Nook of the Earth Earth where he lives and short too the longest postumus 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 11 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 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 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 appointment and spinning of the threat 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 12 if thou workst at that which is before thee following right reasons seriously vigorously calmly without allowing anything else to distract thee but keeping thy Divine part pure as if thou shouldst be bound to 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 utest thou Willl live happy and there is no man who able to prevent this 13 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 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 14 no longer wander at Hazard for neither wilt thou read thy own Memoirs nor the acts of the ancient Romans and the Helens and the selections from books which thou was reserving for thy old age hasten then to the end which thou Hast before thee and throwing away Idol hopes come to thy own Aid if thou carest at all for thyself while it is in thy power 15 they know not how many things are signified by the words stealing sewing buying keeping quiet seeing what ought to be done for this is not affected by the eyes but by another kind of vision 16 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 desires belongs both to wild beasts and to men who have made themselves into women and to a FIS 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 to 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 end of chapter 3 recording by Shane Greenup www.papers.com