Book 10 Marcus Aurelius Meditations

Book 10 Marcus Aurelius Meditations

Episode Transcript

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Book ten. Wilt thou, thenmy soul, never be good and simple
and one and naked, more manifestthan the body which surrounds THEE. Wilt
thou never enjoy an affectionate and contenteddisposition. Wilt thou never be full and
without a want of any kind,longing for nothing more, nor desiring anything,
either animate or inanimate, for theenjoyment of pleasures, nor yet desiring

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time wherein thou shalt have longer enjoyment, or place, or pleasant climate,
or society of men with whom thoumayst live in harmony. But wilt thou
be satisfied with thy present condition andpleased with all that is about THEE?
And wilt thou convince thyself that thouhast everything, and that it comes from
the Gods, that everything is wellfor THEE, and will be well whatever

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shall please them and whatever they shallgive for the conservation of the perfect living
being, the good and just andbeautiful, which generates and holds together all
things, and contains and embraces allthings which are dissolved for the production of
other like things. Wilt thou neverbe such that thou shalt so dwell in
community with gods and men as neitherto find fault with them at all,

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nor to be condemned by them.Observe what thy nature requires, so far
as thou art governed by nature.Only then do it and accept it.
If thy nature, so far asthou art a living being, shall not
be made worse by it. Andnext thou must observe what thy nature requires,
so far as thou art a livingbeing. In all this thou mayst
allow thyself. If thy nature,so far as thou art a rational animal,

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shall not be made worse by it, but the rational animal is consequently
also a political social animal. Usethese rules, then, and trouble thyself
about nothing else. Everything which happenseither happens in such wise as thou art
formed by nature to bear it,or as thou art not formed by nature
to bear. If then it happensto thee in such way as thou art

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formed by nature to bear it,do not complain, but bear it as
thou art formed by nature to bearit. But if it happens in such
wise as thou art not formed bynature to bear it, do not complain,
for it will perish after it hasconsumed thee. Remember, however,
that thou art formed by nature tobear everything with respect to which it depends
on thy own opinion, to makeit endurable and tolerable, by thinking that

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it is either thy interest or thyduty to do this. If a man
is mistaken, instruct him kindly andshow him his error. But if thou
art not able, blame thyself,or blame not even thyself. Whatever may
happen to THEE, it was preparedfor THEE from all eternity, and the
implication of causes was from eternity spinningthe thread of thy being and of that

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which is incident to it. Whetherthe universe is a concourse of atoms or
nature is a system, let thisfirst be established that I am a part
of the whole which is governed bynature. Next, I am in a
manner intimately related to the parts whichare of the same kind with myself.
For remembering this, inasmuch as Iam a part, I shall be discontented

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with none of the things which areassigned to me out of the whole.
For nothing is injurious to the partif it is for the advantage of the
whole. For the whole contains nothingwhich is not for its advantage, and
all natures indeed have this common principle. But the nature of the universe has
this principle besides that it cannot becompelled, even by any external cause,

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to generate anything harmful to itself.By remembering and then that I am a
part of such a whole, Ishall be content with everything that happens.
And inasmuch as I am in amanner intimately related and added to the parts
which are of the same kind withmyself, I shall do nothing unsocial.
But I shall rather direct myself tothe things which are of the same kind

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with myself, and I shall turnin my efforts to the common interest and
divert them from the contrary. Now, if these things are done so,
life must flow on happily, justas thou mayest observe that the life of
a citizen is happy who continues acourse of action which is advantage just to
his fellow citizens, and is contentwith whatever the state may assign to him.

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The parts of the whole, everythingI mean, which is naturally comprehended
in the universe, must of necessityperish. But let this be understood in
this sense that they must undergo change. But if this is naturally both an
evil and a necessity, for theparts the whole would not continue to exist
in a good condition, the partsbeing subject to change and constituted so as

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to perish in various ways. Forwhether did Nature herself designed to do evil
to the things which are parts ofherself, and to make them subject to
evil, and of necessity fall intoevil, or have such results happened without
her knowing it? Both these suppositionsand indeed are incredible. But if a
man should even drop the term natureas an efficient power, and should speak

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of these things as natural, eventhen it would be ridiculous to affirm at
the same time that the parts ofthe whole are in their nature subject to
che and at the same time tobe surprised or vexed as if something were
happening contrary to nature, particularly asthe dissolution of things is into those things
of which each thing is composed,For there is either a dispersion of the

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elements out of which everything has beencompounded, or a change from the solid
to the earthy, and from theairy to the aerial, so that these
parts are taken back into the universal. Reason, whether this at certain periods
is consumed by fire or renewed byeternal changes. And do not imagine that
the solid and the airy part belongto THEE from the time of generation.

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For all this received it's accretion onlyyesterday and the day before, as one
may say, from the food andthe air which is inspired. This,
then, which has received the accretionchange, is not that which thy mother
brought forth. But suppose that thiswhich thy mother brought forth implicates THEE very
much with that other part which hasthe peculiar quality of change. This is

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nothing, in fact in the wayof objection to what is said. When
thou hast assume these names good,modest, true rational, a man of
equanimity and magnanimous, take care thatthou dost not change these names, and
if thou shouldst lose them, quicklyreturn to them. And remember that the
term rational was intended to signify adiscriminating attention to every several thing and freedom

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from negligence, And that equanimity isthe voluntary acceptance of the things which are
assigned to THEE by the common nature, and that magnanimity is the elevation of
the intelligent part above the pleasurable orpainful sensations of the flesh, and above
that poor thing called fame and death. In all such things, If then

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thou maintainest thyself in the possession ofthese names, without desiring to be called
by these names by others, thouwilt be another person, and wilt enter
on another life. For to continueto be such as thou hast hitherto been,
and to be tom in pieces anddefiled in such a life is the
care of a very stupid man,and one over fond of his life.

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And like those half devoured fighters withwild beasts, who, though covered with
wounds and gore, still entreat tobe kept to the following day, though
they will be exposed in the samestate to the same claus and bites.
Therefore, fix thyself in the possessionof these few names. And if thou
art able to abide in them,abide as if thou wast removed to certain

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islands of the happy. But ifthou shalt perceive that thou fallst out of
them, and dost not maintain thyhold, go courageously into some nook where
thou shalt maintain them, or evendepart at once from life, not in
passion, but with simplicity and freedomand modesty. After doing this one laudable
thing, at least in thy life, to have gone out of it.

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Thus, in order, however,to the remembrance of these names, it
will greatly help thee if thou rememberestthe gods, and that they wish not
to be flattered, but wish allreasonable beings to be made like themselves.
And if thou rememberest that what doesthe work of a fig tree is a
fig tree, and that what doesthe work of a dog is a dog,

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and that what does the work ofa bee is a bee, and
that what does the work of aman is a man. Mimi, War,
astonishment, torpor, slavery will dailywipe out those holy principles of thine.
How many things, without studying naturedost thou imagine, and how many
dost thou neglect. But it isthy duty so to look on and so

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to do everything, that at thesame time the power of dealing with circumstances
is perfected, and the contemplative facultyis exercised, and the confidence which comes
from the knowledge of each several thingis maintained without showing it, but yet
not concealed. For when wilt thouenjoy simplicity, when gravity, and when
the knowledge of every several thing,both what it is in substance and what

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place it has in the universe,and how long it is formed to exist,
and of what things it is compounded, and to whom it can belong,
and who are able both to giveit and take it away. A
spider is proud when it has caughta fly, and another when he has
caught a poor hair, and anotherwhen he has taken a little fish in
a net, and another when hehas taken wild boars, and another when

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he has taken bears, and anotherwhen he has taken Sarmatians are not these
robbers if thou examinest their opinions,acquire the contemplative way of seeing how all
things change into one another, andconstantly attend to it, and exercise thyself
about this part of philosophy. Fornothing is so much adapted to produce magnanimity.

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Such a man has put off thebody, and as he sees that
he must no one knows how soongo away from among men and leave everything
here. He gives himself up entirelyto just doing in all his actions and
in everything else that happens. Heresigns himself to the universal nature. But
as to what any man shall sayor think about him, or do against

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him, he never even thinks ofit. Being himself contented with these two
things, with acting justly in whathe now does, and being satisfied with
what is now assigned to him,and he lays aside all distracting in busy
pursuits, and desires nothing else thanto accomplish the straight course through the law,

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and by accomplishing the straight course,to follow God. What need is
there of suspicious fear, since itis in thy power to inquire what ought
to be done. And if thouseest clear, go by this weigh content
without turning back. But if thoudost not see clear, stop and take
the best advisers. But if anyother things oppose thee go on according to

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thy powers, with due consideration,keeping to that which appears to be just,
For it is best to reach thisobject. And if thou dost fail,
let thy failure be in attempting this. He who follows reason in all
things is both tranquil and active atthe same time, and also cheerful and
collected. Inquire of thyself as soonas thou wakest from sleep, whether it
will make any difference to THEE.If another does what is just and right,

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it will make no difference. Thouhast not forgotten. I suppose that
those who assume arrogant airs in bestowingtheir praise or blame on others are such
as they are at bed and atboard, And thou hast not forgotten what
they do, and what they avoid, and what they pursue, and how
they steal, and how they rob, not with hands and feet, but
with their most valuable part, bymeans of which there is produced. When

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a man chooses fidelity, modesty,truth, law, a good demon,
happiness to her who gives and takesback all to nature. The man who
is instructed and madas says, givewhat thou wilt, take back what thou
wilt. And he says this notproudly, but obediently and well pleased with
her. Short is the little whichremains to thee of life. Live as

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on a mountain, For it makesno difference whether a man lives there or
here. If he lives everywhere inthe world, is in a state political
community. Let men see, Letthem know a real man who lives according
to nature. If they cannot endurehim let them kill him, for that
is better than to live. Thus, as men do no longer talk at
all about the kind of man thata good man ought to be, but

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be such. Constantly contemplate the wholeof time and the whole of substance,
And consider that all individual things,as to substance, are a grain of
a fig and as to time,the turning of a gimlet. Look at
everything that exists, and observe thatit is already in dissolution and in change,
and as it were, a putrefactionor dispersion, or that everything is

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so constituted by nature as to die. Consider what men are when they are
eating, sleeping, generating, easingthemselves, and so forth. Then what
kind of men they are when theyare imperious and arrogant, or angry and
scolding from their elevated place. Buta short time ago to how many they
were slaves and for what things?And after a little time, consider in

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what a condition they will be.That is for the good of each thing,
which the universal nature brings to each, and it is for its good
at the time when nature brings it. The earth loves the shower, and
the solemn Ether loves, and theuniverse loves to make whatever is about to
be. I say then to theuniverse, that I love as thou lovest.

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And is not this too said,that this or that loves is wont
to be produced. Either thou livesthere and hast already accustom thyself to it,
or thou art going away and thiswas thy own will, or thou
art dying and hast discharged thy duty. But besides these things there is nothing
be of good cheer. Then letthis always be plain to thee that this

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piece of land is like any other, and that all things here are the
same with things on top of amountain, or on the seashore, or
wherever thou choosest to be. Forthou wilt find just what Plato says,
dwelling within the walls of a cityas in a shepherd's fold on a mountain.
What is my ruling faculty now tome? And of what nature am
I now making it? And forwhat purpose am I now using it?

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Is it void of understanding? Isit loosed and rent asunder from social life?
Is it melted into and mixed withthe poor flesh, so as to
move together with it? He whoflies from his master is a runaway.
But the law is master, andhe who breaks the law is a runaway.
And he also who is grieved orangry or afraid, is dissatisfied because
something has been or said, isor shall be, of the things which

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are appointed by Him who rules allthings. And he is law and assigns
to every man what is fit.He then, who fears or is grieved
or as angry as a runaway,