Meditations — Marcus Aurelius
p. 73that 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 follows 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 living 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 " 1 (vii. 11).
That which is done contrary to reason is also an act contrary to nature, to the whole nature, though it is certainly conformable 1 This is what Juvenal means when he says (xiv. 321), — 44 Nunquam aliud Natura aliud Sapientia (licit. "
74 riiiLOsoniT. to some part of man's nature, or it could not be done. Man is made for action, not for idleness or pleasure. As plants and animals do the uses of their nature, so man must do his (v. 1).
Man must also live conformably to the universal nature, conformably to the nature of all things of which he is one ; and as a citizen of a political community he must direct his life and actions with reference to those among whom, and for whom, among other purposes, he lives.1 A man must not retire into solitude and cut himself off from his fellow-men. He must be ever active to do his part in the great whole.
All men are his kin, not only in blood, but still more by participating in the same intelligence and by being a portion of the same divinity. A man cannot really be injured by his brethren, for no act of theirs can make him bad, and he must not be angry with them nor hate them : " For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth.
To act against one another then is contrary to nature ; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away " (ii. 1). Further he says : " Take pleasure in one thing and rest in it in passing from one social act to another social act, thinking of God ,] (vi. 7). Again : " Love mankind. Follow God " (vii. 31), 1 See viii. 52 ; and Persius lii. 66.
MARCUS AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. T5 It is the characteristic of the rational soul for a man to love his neighbor (xi. 1). Antoninus teaches in various passages the forgiveness of injuries, and we know that he also practised what he taught.
Bishop Butler remarks that " this divine precept to forgive injuries and to love our enemies, though to be met with in Gentile moralists, yet is in a peculiar sense a precept of Christianity, as our Saviour has insisted more upon it than on any other single virtue. The practice of this precept is the most difficult of all virtues. Antoninus often enforces it and gives us aid towards following it.
When we are injured, we feel anger and resentment, and the feeling is natural, just, and useful for the conservation of society. It is useful that wrong-doers should feel the natural consequences of their actions, among which is the disapprobation of society and the resentment of him who is wronged. But revenge, in the proper sense of that word, must not be practised.
'* The best way of avenging thyself," says the emperor, " is not to become like the wrong-doer. It is plain by this that he does not mean that we should in any case practise revenge ; but he says to those who talk ol revtnging wrongs, Be not like him who has done the wrong. Socrates in the Crif< (c. 10) says the same in other words, and St. Paul CEp. to die Romans, xii. 17). " When a man haj done thee
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 73 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 follows 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 living 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 " 1 (vii. 11).
That which is done contrary to reason is also an act contrary to nature, to the whole nature, though it is certainly conformable 1 This is what Juvenal means when he says (xiv. 321), — 44 Nunquam aliud Natura aliud Sapientia (licit. "
74 riiiLOsoniT. to some part of man's nature, or it could not be done. Man is made for action, not for idleness or pleasure. As plants and animals do the uses of their nature, so man must do his (v. 1).
Man must also live conformably to the universal nature, conformably to the nature of all things of which he is one ; and as a citizen of a political community he must direct his life and actions with reference to those among whom, and for whom, among other purposes, he lives.1 A man must not retire into solitude and cut himself off from his fellow-men. He must be ever active to do his part in the great whole.
All men are his kin, not only in blood, but still more by participating in the same intelligence and by being a portion of the same divinity. A man cannot really be injured by his brethren, for no act of theirs can make him bad, and he must not be angry with them nor hate them : " For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth.
To act against one another then is contrary to nature ; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away " (ii. 1). Further he says : " Take pleasure in one thing and rest in it in passing from one social act to another social act, thinking of God ,] (vi. 7). Again : " Love mankind. Follow God " (vii. 31), 1 See viii. 52 ; and Persius lii. 66.
MARCUS AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. T5 It is the characteristic of the rational soul for a man to love his neighbor (xi. 1). Antoninus teaches in various passages the forgiveness of injuries, and we know that he also practised what he taught. Bishop Butler remarks that " this divine precept to forgive injuries and to love our enemies, though to be met with in Gentile moralists, yet is in a peculiar sense a precept of Christianity, as our Saviour has insisted more upon it than on any other single virtue." The practice of this precept is the most difficult of all virtues. Antoninus often enforces it and gives us aid towards following it. When we are injured, we feel anger and resentment, and the feeling is natural, just, and useful for the conservation of society. It is useful that wrong-doers should feel the natural consequences of their actions, among which is the disapprobation of society and the resentment of him who is wronged. But revenge, in the proper sense of that word, must not be practised. '* The best way of avenging yourself," says the emperor, " is not to become like the wrong-doer." It is plain by this that he does not mean that we should in any case practise revenge ; but he says to those who talk ol revtnging wrongs, Be not like him who has done the wrong. Socrates in the Crif< (c. 10) says the same in other words, and St. Paul CEp. to die Romans, xii. 17). " When a man haj done you
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