Meditations || by Marcus Aurelius || Introduction & Sections 01 || PERT 01 || Quotes Pin

Introduction to the meditations of Marcus aelius the meditations of Marcus aelius by Marcus Aurelius antoninus translated by George long introduction Marcus anus verus was born in Rome in ad21 and assume the name of Marcus aelius antoninus by which he is known to history on his adoption by the emperor T orelus antoninus he succeeded to the Imperial throne in 161 and ruled till his death in 180 his Reign though marked by Justice and moderation at home was troubled by constant Warfare on the frontiers of the Empire and Aurelia spent much of his later years in the uncongenial task of commanding armies that no longer proved irresistible against the Barbarian hordes amelius was educated by the orator fronto but turned aside from rhetoric to study of the stoic philosophy of which he was the last distinguished representative the meditations which he wrote in Greek are among the most noteworthy expressions of this system and exhibit it favorably on its practical side his own precepts he carried out with singular consistency and both in his public and his private life he was in the highest degree conscientious he and his predecessor are noted as the only Roman emperors who can be said to have ruled with a single eye to the welfare of their subjects during his Reign Rome was visited by a severe pestilence and this with reverses suffered by his armies threw the populace into a panic and led them to demand the sacrifice of the Christians whom they regarded as having brought down the anger of the Gods aelius seems to have shared the panic and his record it stained by his sanction of the cruel persecution this incident in the career of the last and one of the loftiest of the Pagan moralists may be regarded as symbolic of the dying effort of heathenism to check the advancing tide of Christianity the meditations picture with faithfulness the mind and character of this noblest of the Emperors simple in style and sincere in tone they record for all time the height reached by Pagan aspirations in its effort to solve the problem of conduct and the essential agreement of his practice with his teaching proved that even in a palace life may be led well end of introduction recording by Shane Greenup Shane green up. blogspot.com and papers all.com the meditations of Marcus aelius by Marcus aelius antoninus translated by George long chapter 1 one from my grandfather verus I learned good morals and the government of my temper two from the reputation and remembrance of my father modesty and a manly character three for my mother piety and beneficence and abstinence not only from Evil Deeds but even from Evil thoughts and further Simplicity in my way of living far removed from the habits of the rich four for my great-grandfather not to a frequented public schools and to have had good teachers at home and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally five for my Governor to be neither of the green nor of the blue party at the games in the circus nor part of and either of the parius or the scarus at the Gladiators fights from him too I learned endurance of Labor and to want little and to work with my own hands and not to meddle with other people's Affairs and not to be ready to listen to slander six from dig nus not to busy myself about trifling things and not to give credit to what was said by miracle workers and jugglers about incantations and the driving away of demons and such things and not to breed quailes for fighting nor to give myself up passionately to such things and to endure freedom of speech and to have become intimate with philosophy and to have been a hearer first of bakus then of tasus and marcianus and to have written dialogues in my youth and to have desired a plank bed and skin and whatever else of the kind belongs to the Grecian discipline from rusticus I received the impression that my character required Improvement and discipline and from him I learned not to be led astray to sophistic emulation nor to writing on speculative matters nor to delivering little horory orations nor to showing myself off as a man who practices much discipline or does benevolent acts in order to make a display and to abstain from rhetoric and poetry and fine writing and not to walk about in the house in my outdoor dress nor to do other things of the kind and to write my letters with Simplicity like the letter which rusticus wrote from senua to my mother and with respect to those who have offended me by words or done me wrong to be easily disposed to be pacified and reconciled as soon as they have shown a Readiness to be reconciled and to read carefully and not to be satisfied with a superficial understanding of a book nor hastily to give my Ascent to those who talk over much and I'm indebted to him for being acquainted with the discourses of epicus which he communicated to me out of his own collection eight from appolloni as I learned freedom of will and undeviating steadiness of purpose and to look to nothing else not even for a moment except to reason and to be always the same in sharp pains on the occasion of the loss of a child and in Long illness and to see clearly in a living example that the same man can be both most Resolute and yielding and not peevish in giving his instruction and to have had before my eyes a man who clearly considered his experience and his skill in expounding philosophical principles as the smallest of his merits and from him I learned how to receive from friends what are esteemed favors without being either humbled by them or letting them pass unnoticed from sexus a benevolent disposition and the example of a family governed in a fatherly Manner and the idea of living conformably to Nature and gravity without affectation and to look carefully after the interests of friends and to tolerate ignorant persons and those who form opinions without consideration he had the power of readily accommodating himself to all so that intercourse with him was more agreeable than any flattery and at the same time he was most highly venerated by those who associated with him and he had the faculty both of discovering and ordering in an intelligent and methodical way the principles necessary for life and he never showed anger or any other passion but was entirely free from Passion and also most affectionate and he could express appr probation without noisy display and he possessed much knowledge without ostentation 10 from Alexander the Garian to refrain from Fault finding and not in a reproachful way to chide those who uttered any barbarous or solistica expression but dexterously to introduce the very expression which ought to have been used and in the way of answer or giving confirmation or joining in an inquiry about the thing itself not about the word or by some other fit suggestion 11 from fronto the first I learned to observe what end in duplicity and hypocrisy are in a tyrant and that generally those Among Us who are called patricians are rather deficient in paternal affection 12 from Alexander the platonic not frequently nor without necessity to say to anyone or to write in a letter that I have no leisure nor continually to excuse the neglect of Duties required by our relation to those with whom we live by alleging urgent occupations 13 from Catalyst not to be indifferent when when a friend finds fault even if he should find fault without reason but to try to restore him to his usual disposition and to be ready to speak well of teachers as it is reported of deus and aanus and to love my children truly 14 for my brother seus to love my kin and to love truth and to love Justice and through him I learned to know thasia helvidius KO Dion Brutus and from him I received the idea of a in which there is the same law for all a PO administered with regard to equal rights and equal freedom of speech and the idea of a kingly government which respects most of all the freedom of the governed I learned from him also consistency and undeviating steadiness in my regard for philosophy and a disposition to do good and to give to others readily and to cherish good hopes and to believe that I am loved by my friends and in him I observed no concealment of his opinions with respect to Those whom he condemned and that his friends had no need to conjecture what he wished or did not wish but it was quite plain 15 for Maximus I learned self-government and not to be L aside by anything and cheerfulness in all circumstances as well as in illness and a just ad mixture in the moral character of sweetness and dignity and to do what was set before me without complaining I observed that everybody belied believe that he thought as he spoke and that in all that he did he never had any bad intention and he never showed amazement and surprise and was never in a hurry and never put off doing a thing nor was perplexed nor dejected nor did he ever laugh to disguise his vation nor on the other hand was he ever passionate or suspicious he was accustomed to do acts of beneficence and was ready to forgive and was free from all falsehood and he presented the appearance of a man who could not be diverted from right rather than of a man who had been improved I observed too that no man could ever think that he was despised by Maximus or ever venture to think himself a better man he had also the art of Being humorous in an agreeable way 16 in my father I observed mildness of temper and unchangeable resolution in the things which he had determined after due deliberation and no vain glory in those things which men call honors and a love of Labor and perseverance and a Readiness to listen to those who had anything to propose for the common wheel an undeviating firmness in giving to every man according to his deserts and a knowledge derived from experience of the occasions for vigorous action and for remission and I observed that he had overcome all passion for Joys and he considered himself no more than any other Citizen and he released his friends from all obligation to suck with him or to attend him of a necessity when he went abroad and the those who failed to accompany him by reason of any urgent circumstances always found him the same I observed too his habit of careful inquiry in all matters of deliberation and his persistency and that he never stopped his investigation through being satisfied with appearances which first present themselves and that his disposition was to keep his friends and not to be soon tired of them nor yet to be extravagant in his affection and to be satisfied on All Occasions and cheerful and to foresee things things a long way off and to provide for the smallest without display and to check immediately popular Applause and flattery and to be ever watchful over the things which were necessary for the administration of the Empire and to be a good manager of the expenditure and patiently to endure the blame which he got for such conduct and he was neither superstitious with respect to the gods nor did he Court Men by gifts or by trying to please them or by flattering the populace but he showed sobriety in all things and firmness and never any mean thoughts or action nor love of novelty and the things which conduce in any way to the commodity of life and of which Fortune gives an abundant Supply he used without arrogance and without excusing himself so that when he had them he enjoyed them without affectation and when he had them not he did not want them no one could ever say of him that he was either a sophist or homebred flippant slave or pent but everyone acknowledged him to be a man ripe perfect above flattery able to manage his own and other men's Affairs besides this he honored those who were true philosophers and he did not reproach those who pretended to be philosophers nor yet was he easily led by them he was also easy in conversation and he made himself agreeable without any offense of affectation he took a reasonable care of his body's Health not as one who was greatly attached to life nor out of regard to personal appearance nor yet in a careless way but the so that through his own attention he very seldom stood in need of the physician's art or of medicine or external applications he was most ready to give way without Envy to those who possessed any particular faculty such as that of eloquence or knowledge of the law or of morals or of anything else and he gave them his help that each might enjoy reputation according to his deserts and he always acted conformably to the institutions of his country without showing any affectation of doing so further he was was not fond of change nor unsteady but he loved to stay in the same places and to employ himself about the same things and after his paroxysms of headache he came immediately fresh and vigorous to his usual occupations his secrets were not many but very few and very rare and these only about public matters and he showed prudence and economy in the exhibition of the public spectacles and the construction of public buildings his donations to the people and in such things for he was a man who looked to what ought to be done not to the reputation which is gut by a man's act he did not take the bath at unseasonable hours he was not fond of building houses nor curious about what he eat nor about the texture and color of his clothes nor about the beauty of his slaves his dress came from laurum his Villa on the coast and from lenium generally we know how he behaved to the toll collector at Tusculum who asked his pardon and such was all his behavior there was in him nothing harsh nor implacable nor violent nor as one may say anything carried to the sweating point but he examined all things severally as if he had abundance of time and without confusion in an orderly way vigorously and consistently and that might be applied to him which is recorded of Socrates that he was able both to abstain from and to enjoy those things which many are too weak to abstain from and cannot enjoy without excess but to be strong enough both to Bear the one and to be sober in the other is the mark of a man who has a perfect and Invincible Soul such as he showed in the illness of Maximus 17 to the gods I am indebted for having good grandfathers good parents a good sister good teachers good Associates good Kinsmen and Friends nearly everything good further I owe it to the gods that I was not hurried into any offense against any of them though I had a disposition which if opportunity had offered might have led me to do something of this kind but through their favor there never was such a concurrence of circumstances as put me to the trial further I am thankful to the gods that I was not longer brought up with my grandfather's concubine and that I preserved the flower of my youth and that I did not make proof of my virility before the proper season but even deferred the time that I was subjected to a ruler and a father who was able to take away all Pride from me and to bring me to the knowledge that it is possible for a man to live in a palace without wanting either guards or embroidered dresses or torches and statues and such likee show but it is in such a man's power to bring himself very near to the fashion of a private person without being for this reason either meaner in thought or more remiss in action with respect to the things which must be done for the public interest in a manner that befits a ruler I thank the gods for giving me such a brother who is Able by his moral character to Rouse me to vigilance over myself and who at the same time please me by his respect and affection that my children have not been stupid nor deformed in body that I did not make more Proficiency in rhetoric poetry and the other studies in which I should perhaps have been completely engaged if I had seen that I was making progress in them that I made haste to place those who brought me up in the station of Honor which they seemed to desire without putting them off with hope of my doing it sometime after because they were then still young that I knew aalon rusticus Maximus that I received clear and frequent Impressions about living according to Nature and what kind of a life that is so that so far as depended on the gods and their gifts and help and Inspirations nothing hindered me from forth withth living according to Nature though I still fall short of it through my own fault and through not observing the admonitions of the Gods and I may almost say their direct instructions that my body is held out so long in such a kind of life that I never touched either benedicta or theodotus and that after having fallen into amatory passions I was cured and though I was often out of humor with rusticus I never did anything of which I had occasion to repent that though it was my mother's Fate To Die Young she spent the last years of her life with me that whenever I wish to help any man in his need or on any other occasion I was never told that I had not the means of doing it and that to myself the same necessity never happened to receive anything from from another that I have such a wife so obedient and so affectionate and so simple that I had abundance of good Masters for my children and that remedies have been shown to me by dreams both others and against blood spitting and giddiness and that when I had an inclination to philosophy I did not fall into the hands of any sophist and that I did not waste my time on writers of histories or in the resolution of syllogisms or occupy myself about the investigation of appearances in the heavens for these things require the help of the Gods and Fortune among the kaidi at the granua end of chapter.