Meditations — Marcus Aurelius
p. 211What good is it then for the ball to be thrown up, or harm for it to come down, or even to have fallen ? and what good is it to the bubble while it holds together, or what harm when it is burst? The same may be said of a light also. 21. Turn it [the body] inside out, and see what kind of thing it is ; and when it has grown old, what kind of thing it becomes, and when it is diseased.
Short lived are both the praiser and the praised, and the rememberer and the remembered : and all this in a nook of this part of the world ; and not even here do all agree, no, not any one with himself : and the whole earth too is a point. 22. Attend to the matter which is before thee, whether it is an opinion or an act or a word. Thou sufferest this justly : for thou choosest rather to become good to-morrow than to be good to-day. 23.
Am I doing anything ? I do it with reference to the good of mankind. Does anything happen to me ? I receive it and refer it to the gods, and the source of all things, from which all that happens is derived. 24. Such as bathing appears to thee, — oil, sweat, dirt, filthy water, all things disgusting, — so is every part of life and everything. 25. Lucilla saw Verus die, and then Lucilla died. Secunda saw Maximus die, and then Sep. 212cunda died. Epitynchanus saw Diotimus die, and then Epitynchanus died. Antoninus saw Faustina die, and then Antoninus died. Such is everything. Celer saw Hadrianus die, and then Celer died. And those sharp-witted men, either seers or men inflated with pride, where are they, — for instance the sharp-witted men, Charax and Demetrius the Platonist and Eudaemon, and any one else like them? All ephemeral, dead long ago.
Some indeed have not been remembered even for a short time, and others have become the heroes of fables, and again others have disappeared even from fables. Remember this then, that this little compound, thyself, must either be dissolved, or thy poor breath must be extinguished, or be removed and placed elsewhere. 26. It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper works of a man.
Now it is a proper work of a man to be benevolent to his own kind, to despise the movement of the senses, to form a just judgment of plausible appearances, and to take a survey of the nature of the universe and of the things which happen in it. 27. There are three relations [between thee and other things] : the one to the body l which sur- 1 The text has atnov, which in Antoninus means " form," " formal.
Accordingly Schultz recommends either Valkenaer's emendation &yye?ovt "body," or Corai's* oupArtav. Compare xii. 13 ; x. 38.
p. 213rounds thee ; the second to the divine cause from which all things come to all; and the third to those who live with thee. 28. Pain is either an evil to the body — then let the body say what it thinks of it — or to the soul ; but it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquillity, and not to think that pain is an evil.
For every judgment and movement and desire and aversion is within, and no evil ascends so high. 29. Wipe out thy imaginations by often saying to thyself : Now it is in my power to let no badness be in this soul, nor desire, nor any perturbation at all ; but looking at all things I see what is their nature, and I use each according to its value. — Remember this power which thou hast from nature. 30.
Speak both in the senate and to every man, whoever he may be, appropriately, not with any affectation : use plain discourse. 31. Augustus* court, wife, daughter, descendants, ancestors, sister, Agrippa, kinsmen, intimates, friends, Areius,1 Maecenas, physicians, and sacrificing priests, — the whole court is dead.
Then turn to the rest, not considering the death of a single man [but of a whole race], as of the 1 Areius ("Apetos) was a philosopher, who was intimate With Augustus ; Sueton. Augustus, c. 89 j Plutarch, Antoninus, 80; Dion Cassius, 51, c. 16.
MABCUS AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. 211 What good is it then for the ball to be thrown up, or harm for it to come down, or even to have fallen ? and what good is it to the bubble while it holds together, or what harm when it is burst? The same may be said of a light also. 21. Turn it [the body] inside out, and see what kind of thing it is ; and when it has grown old, what kind of thing it becomes, and when it is diseased. Short lived are both the praiser and the praised, and the rememberer and the remembered : and all this in a nook of this part of the world ; and not even here do all agree, no, not any one with himself : and the whole earth too is a point. 22. Attend to the matter which is before you, whether it is an opinion or an act or a word. You sufferest this justly : for you choosest rather to become good to-morrow than to be good to-day. 23. Am I doing anything ? I do it with reference to the good of mankind. Does anything happen to me ? I receive it and refer it to the gods, and the source of all things, from which all that happens is derived. 24. Such as bathing appears to you, — oil, sweat, dirt, filthy water, all things disgusting, — so is every part of life and everything. 25. Lucilla saw Verus die, and then Lucilla died. Secunda saw Maximus die, and then Se- 212 MEDITATIONS, cunda died. Epitynchanus saw Diotimus die, and then Epitynchanus died. Antoninus saw Faustina die, and then Antoninus died. Such is everything. Celer saw Hadrianus die, and then Celer died. And those sharp-witted men, either seers or men inflated with pride, where are they, — for instance the sharp-witted men, Charax and Demetrius the Platonist and Eudaemon, and any one else like them? All ephemeral, dead long ago. Some indeed have not been remembered even for a short time, and others have become the heroes of fables, and again others have disappeared even from fables. Remember this then, that this little compound, yourself, must either be dissolved, or your poor breath must be extinguished, or be removed and placed elsewhere. 26. It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper works of a man. Now it is a proper work of a man to be benevolent to his own kind, to despise the movement of the senses, to form a just judgment of plausible appearances, and to take a survey of the nature of the universe and of the things which happen in it. 27. There are three relations [between you and other things] : the one to the body l which sur- 1 The text has atnov, which in Antoninus means " form," " formal." Accordingly Schultz recommends either Valkenaer's emendation &yye?ovt "body," or Corai's* oupArtav. Compare xii. 13 ; x. 38.
MABCUS AUBELIUS ANTONINUS. 213 rounds you ; the second to the divine cause from which all things come to all; and the third to those who live with you. 28. Pain is either an evil to the body — then let the body say what it thinks of it — or to the soul ; but it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquillity, and not to think that pain is an evil. For every judgment and movement and desire and aversion is within, and no evil ascends so high. 29. Wipe out your imaginations by often saying to yourself : Now it is in my power to let no badness be in this soul, nor desire, nor any perturbation at all ; but looking at all things I see what is their nature, and I use each according to its value. — Remember this power which you have from nature. 30. Speak both in the senate and to every man, whoever he may be, appropriately, not with any affectation : use plain discourse. 31. Augustus* court, wife, daughter, descendants, ancestors, sister, Agrippa, kinsmen, intimates, friends, Areius,1 Maecenas, physicians, and sacrificing priests, — the whole court is dead. Then turn to the rest, not considering the death of a single man [but of a whole race], as of the 1 Areius ("Apetos) was a philosopher, who was intimate With Augustus ; Sueton. Augustus, c. 89 j Plutarch, Antoninus, 80; Dion Cassius, 51, c. 16.
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