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Chapter five of Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. This is a LibriVox recording. All

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LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,

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please visit LibriVox dot org. The
Meditations of Marcus Aurelius by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus,

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translated by George Long. Chapter five. In the morning, when thou

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risest unwillingly, let this thought be
present, I am rising to the work

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of a human being. Why then, am I dissatisfied? If I am

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going to do the things for which
I exist and for which I was brought

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into the world? Or have I
been made for this? To lie in

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the bedclothes and keep myself warm?
But this is more pleasant? Dost thou

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exist then to take thy pleasure,
and not at all for action or exertion.

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Dost thou not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants,

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the spiders, the bees, working
together to put in order their several

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parts of the universe. And art
thou unwilling to do the work of a

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human being? And dost thou not
make haste to do that which is according

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to thy nature? But it is
necessary to take rest. Also it is

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necessary However, Nature has fixed bounds
to this too. She has fixed bounds

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both to eating and drinking. And
yet thou goest beyond these bounds, beyond

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what is sufficient. Yet in thy
acts it is not so, But thou

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stoppest short of what thou canst do. So thou lovest not thyself. For

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if thou didst, thou wouldst love
thy nature and her will. But those

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who love their several arts exhaust themselves
in working at them, unwashed and without

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food. But thou valuest thine own
nature less than the turner values the turning

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art, or the dancer, the
dancing art or the lover of money values

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his money, or the vainglorious man
his little glory. And such men,

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when they have a violent affection to
a thing, choose neither to eat nor

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to sleep, rather than to perfect
the things which they care for. But

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are the acts which concern society more
vile in thy eyes and less worthy of

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thy labor. How easy it is
to repel and to wipe away every impression

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which is troublesome or unsuitable, and
immediately to be in all tranquility every word

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and deed which are according to nature
to be fit for THEE, and be

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not diverted by the blame which follows
from any people, nor by their words.

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But if a thing is good to
be done or said, do not

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consider it unworthy of THEE. For
those persons have their peculiar leading principle and

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follow their peculiar movement, which things
do not thou regard, but go straight

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on following thy own nature and the
common nature. And the way of both

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is one. I go through the
things which happen according to nature, and

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I shall fall and rest, breathing
out my breath into that element out of

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which I daily draw it in,
and falling upon that earth, out of

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which my father collected the seed,
and my mother the blood, and my

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nurse the milk, out of which, during so many years I have been

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supplied with food and drink, which
bears me when I tread on it,

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and abuse it for so many purposes. Thou sayest men cannot admire the sharpness

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of thy wits. Be it so. But there are many other things of

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which thou canst not say I am
not formed for them by nature. Show

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those qualities, then, which are
altogether in thy power, sincerity, gravity,

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endurance of labor, aversion to pleasure, contentment with thy portion, and

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with few things benevolence, frankness,
no love of superfluity, freedom from trifling

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magnanimity. Dost thou not see how
many qualities thou art immediately able to exhibit,

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in which there is no excuse of
natural incapacity and un fitness, And

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yet thou still remainest voluntarily below the
mark or art thou compelled through being defectively

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furnished by nature to murmur, and
to be stingy, and to flatter,

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and to find fault with thy poor
body, and to try to please men,

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and to make great display, and
to be restless in thy mind.

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No by the gods, but thou
mightest have been delivered from these things long

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ago, only if in truth thou
canst be charged with being rather slow and

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dull of comprehension. Thou must exert
thyself about this, also, not neglecting

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it, nor yet taking pleasure in
thy dullness. One man, when he

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has done a service to another,
is ready to set it down to his

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account as a favor conferred. Is
not ready to do this, but still

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in his own mind he thinks of
the man as his debtor, and he

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knows what he has done. A
third in a manner does not even know

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what he has done. But he
is like a vine which has produced grapes,

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and seeks for nothing more after it
has once produced its proper fruit,

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as a horse when he has run, a dog when he has tracked the

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game, a bee when it has
made the honey. So a man,

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when he has done a good act, does not call out for others to

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come and see, but he goes
on to another act, as a vine

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goes on to produce again the grapes
in season. Must a man then be

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one of these who, in a
manner, act thus without observing it.

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Yes, but this very thing is
necessary, the observation of what a man

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is doing. For but it may
be said it is characteristic of the social

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animal to perceive that he is working
in a social manner, and indeed to

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wish that his social partner also should
perceive it. It is true what thou

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sayest, but thou dost not rightly
understand what is now said. And for

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this reason thou wilt become one of
those of whom I spoke before, For

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even they are misled by a certain
show of reason. But if thou wilt

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choose to understand the meaning of what
is said. Do not fear that for

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this reason thou wilt omit any social
act. A prayer of the Athenians rain

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rain O Dearsius down on the plowed
fields of the Athenians and on the plains.

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In truth, we ought not to
pray at all, or we ought

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to pray in this simple and noble
fashion. Just as we must understand when

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it is said that Esculapius prescribed to
this man horse exercise, or bathing in

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cold water, or going without shoes, so we must understand it when it

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is said that the nature of the
universe prescribed to this man disease or mutilation,

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or laws, or anything else of
the kind. For in the first

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case, prescribed means something like this, he prescribed this for this man as

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a thing adapted to procure health.
And in the second case it means that

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which happens to or suits every man, is fixed in a manner for him

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suitably to his destiny. For this
is what we mean when we say that

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things are suitable to us, as
the workmen say of squared zones in walls

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or the pyramids, that they are
suitable when they fit them to one another

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in some kind of connection, for
there is altogether one fitness, harmony.

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And as the universe is made up
out of all bodies to be such a

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body as it is, so out
of all existing causes, necessity destiny is

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made up to be such a cause
as it is. And even those who

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are completely ignorant understand what I mean, for they say it necessity Destiny brought

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this to such a person. This
then was brought, and this was prescribed

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to him. Let us then receive
these things, as well as those which

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Esculopius prescribes. Many as a matter
of course, even among his prescriptions are

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disagreeable, but we accept them in
the hope of health. Let the perfecting

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and accomplishment of the things which the
common nature judges to be good be judged

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by thee to be of the same
kind as thy health. And so accept

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everything which happens, even if it
seem disagreeable, because it leads to this

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to the health of the universe,
and to the prosperity and felicity of Zeus

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the universe. For he would not
have brought on any man what he has

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brought if it were not useful for
the whole Neither does the nature of anything,

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whatever it may be, cause anything
which is not suitable to that which

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is directed by it. For two
reasons, then it is right to be

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content with that which happens to THEE. The one because it was done for

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THEE, and prescribed for THEE,
and and in a manner had reference to

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THEE originally from the most ancient causes
spun with thy destiny. And the other

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because even that which comes severely to
every man is to the power which administers

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the universe, a cause of felicity
and perfection. Nay, even of its

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very continuance, for the integrity of
the whole is mutilated. If thou cuttest

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off anything whatever from the conjunction and
the continuity, either of the parts or

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of the causes, and thou dost
cut off as far as it is in

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thy power, when thou art dissatisfied, and in a manner triest to put

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anything out of the way, be
not disgusted, nor discouraged, nor dissatisfied

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if thou dost not succeed in doing
everything according to right principles. But when

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thou hast failed, turn back again
and be content. If the greater part

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of what thou doest is consistent with
man's nature and love this to which thou

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returnest, And do not return to
philosophy as if she were a master,

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But act like those who have sore
eyes, and apply a bit of sponge

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and egg, or as another applies
a plaster or drenching with water. For

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thus thou wilt not fail to obey
reason, and thou wilt repose in it.

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And remember that philosophy requires only the
things which thy nature requires. But

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thou wouldst have something else which is
not according to nature. It may be

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objected, why what is more agreeable
than this which I am doing? But

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is not this the very reason why
pleasure deceives us? And consider if magnanimity,

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freedom, simplicity, equanimi piety are
not more agreeable, For what is

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more agreeable than wisdom itself? When
thou thinkest of the security and the happy

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course of all things which depend on
the faculty of understanding and knowledge, things

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are in such a kind of envelopment
that they have seemed to philosophers, not

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a few, nor those common philosophers
altogether unintelligible, nay even to the stoics

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themselves. They seem difficult to understand, and all our assent is changeable.

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For where is the man who never
changes carry thy thoughts? Then to the

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objects themselves, and consider how short
lived they are and worthless, and that

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they may be in the possession of
a filthy wretch, or a whore or

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a robber. Then turn to the
morals of those who live with thee.

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And it is hardly possible to endure
even the most agreeable of them, to

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say nothing of the man being hardly
able to endure himself in such darkness,

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then, and dirt, and in
so constant a flux, both of substance

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and of time, and of motion
and of things moved. What there is

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worth being highly prized, or even
an object of serious pursuit I cannot imagine.

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But on the contrary, it is
a man's duty to comfort himself and

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to wait for the natural dissolution,
and not to be vexed at the delay,

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but to rest in these principles only, the one that nothing will happen

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to me which is not conformable to
the nature of the universe, and the

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other that it is in my power
never to act contrary to my God and

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demon. For there is no man
who will compel me to do this.

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About what am I now employing my
own soul? On every occasion I must

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ask myself this question and inquire,
what have I now in this part of

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me which they call the ruling principle? And whose soul have I now that

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of a child, or of a
young man, or of a feeble woman,

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or of a tyrant, or of
a domestic animal, or of a

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wild beast. What kind of things
those are which appear good to the many?

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We may learn even from this.
For if any man should conceive certain

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things as being really good, such
as prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude,

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he would not, after having first
conceived these, endure to listen to

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anything which should not be in harmony
with what is really good. But if

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a man has first conceived as good
the things which appear to them many to

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be good, he will listen and
readily receive as very applicable that which was

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said by the comic writer. Thus
even the many perceive the difference, for

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were it not so, this saying
would not offend and would not be rejected

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in the first case, while we
receive it when it is said of wealth

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and of the means which further luxury
and fame, as said fitly and wittily

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go on, then, and ask
if we should value and think those things

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to be good to which, after
their first conception in the mind. The

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words of the comic writer might be
aptly applied, that he who has them

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through pure abundance has not a place
to ease himself in I am composed of

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the formal and the material, and
neither of them will perish into non existence,

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as neither of them came into existence
out of non existence. Every part

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of me, then will be reduced
by change into some part of the universe,

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and that again will change into another
part of the universe, and so

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on forever. And by consequence of
such a change, I too exist,

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and those who begot me, and
so on forever in the other direction.

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For nothing hinders us from saying so, even if the universe is administered according

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to definite periods of revolution, Reason
and the reasoning art philosophy are powers which

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are sufficient for themselves and for their
own works. They move, then,

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from a first principle, which is
their own, and they make their way

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to the end which is proposed to
them. And this is the reason why

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such acts are named catorthosais or right
acts, which which word signifies that they

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proceed by the right road. None
of these things ought to be called a

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man's which do not belong to a
man as man. They are not required

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of a man, nor does man's
nature promise them, nor are they the

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means of man's nature attaining its end. Neither, then, does the end

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of man lie in these things.
Nor yet that which aids to the accomplishment

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of this end, And that which
aids toward this end is that which is

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good. Besides, if any of
these things did belong to man, it

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would not be right for a man
to despise them and to set himself against

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them. Nor would a man be
worthy of priests who showed that he did

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not want these things, nor would
he who stinted himself in any of them

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be good, if indeed these things
were good. But now the more of

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these things a man deems himself of, or of other things like them,

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or even when he is deprived of
any of them, the more patiently he

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endures the loss, just in the
same degree he is a better man.

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Such as are thy habitual thoughts,
such also will be the character of thy

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mind. For the soul is dyed
by the thoughts die it then with a

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continuous series of such thoughts as these, For instance, that where a man

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can live there, he can also
live well. But he must live in

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a palace. Well, then he
can also live well in a palace.

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And again, consider that for whatever
purpose each thing has been constituted, for

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this it has been constituted, And
toward this it is carried. And its

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end is in that toward which it
is carried. And where the end is

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there also is the advantage and the
good of each thing. Now, the

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good for the reasonable animal is society, for that we are made for society

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has been shown above. Is it
not plain that the inferior exists for the

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sake of the superior. But the
things which have life are superior to those

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which have not life, And of
those which have life, the superior are

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those which have reason to seek.
What is impossible is madness, And it

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is impossible that the bad should not
do something of this kind. Nothing happens

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to any man which he is not
formed by nature to bear. The same

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things happen to another. And either
because he does not see that they have

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happened, or because he would show
a great spirit, he is firm and

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remains unharmed. It is a shame, then, that ignorance and conceit should

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be stronger than wisdom. Things themselves
touch not the soul, not in the

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least degree, nor have they admission
to the soul. Nor can they turn

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or move the soul. But the
soul turns and moves itself alone, And

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whatever judgments it may think proper to
make such, it makes for itself the

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things which present themselves to it.
In one respect, man is the nearest

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thing to me, so far as
I must do good to men and endure

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them. But so far as some
men make themselves obstacles to my proper acts,

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man becomes to me one of the
things which are indifferent, no less

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than the sun, or wind,
or a wild beast. Now it is

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true that these may impede my action, but they are no impediments to my

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effects and disposition, which have the
power of acting conditionally and changing. For

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the mind converts changes every hindrance to
its activity into an aid, And so

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that which is a hindrance is made
a furtherance to enact. And that which

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is an obstacle on the road helps
us on this road. Reverence, that

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which is best in the universe and
this is that which makes use of all

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things and directs all things. And
in like manner also reverence that which is

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best in thyself. And this is
of the same kind as that for in

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thyself. Also that which makes use
of everything else is this, and thy

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life is directed by this. That
which does no harm to the state does

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no harm to the citizen. In
the case of every appearance of harm,

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apply this rule. If the state
is not harmed by this, neither am

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I harmed. But if the state
is harm thou must not be angry with

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him who does harm to the state. Show him where his error is.

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Often think of the rapidity with which
things pass by and disappear, both the

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things which are and the things which
are produced. For substance is like a

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river in a continual flow. And
the activities of things are in constant change,

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and the causes work in infinite varieties. And there is hardly anything which

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stands still. And consider this which
is near to thee, this boundless abyss

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of the past and of the future, in which all things disappear. How

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then, is he not a fool
who is puffed up with such things,

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or plagued about them, or makes
himself miserable, for they vex him only

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for a time, and a short
time. Think of the universal substance,

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of which thou hast a very small
portion, and of universal time, of

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which a short and indivisible interval has
been assigned to thee, and of that

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which is fixed by destiny, And
how small a part of it thou art

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does another do me wrong? Let
him look to it. He has his

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own disposition, his own activity.
I now have what the universal nature wills

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me to have, and I do
what my nature now wills me to do.

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Let the part of thy soul which
leads and governs, be undisturbed by

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the movements in the flesh, whether
of pleasure or of pain, and let

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it not unite with them, but
let it circumscribe itself, and limit those

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effects to their parts. But when
these effects rise up to the mind by

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virtue of that other sympathy that naturally
exists in a body which is all one,

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then thou must not strive to resist
the sensation, for it is natural.

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But let not the ruling part of
itself add to the sensation the opinion

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that it is either good or bad. Live with the gods, and he

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does live with the gods, who
constantly shows to them that his own soul

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is satisfied with that which is assigned
to him, and that it does all

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that the demon wishes, which Zeus
have given to every man for his guardian

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and guide a portion of himself.
And this is every man's understanding and reason.

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Art thou angry with him whose armpits
stink? Art thou angry with him

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whose mouth smells foul? What good
will this anger do THEE? He has

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such a mouth, he has such
armpits. It is necessary that such an

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emanation must come from such things.
But the man has reason, it will

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be said, And he is able
if he takes pains to discover wherein he

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offends. I wish THEE well of
thy discovery. Well, then an thou

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hast reason by thy rational faculty,
stir up his rational faculty, show him

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his error, admonish him, for
if he listens, thou wilt cure him.

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And there is no need of anger. As thou intendest to live when

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thou art gone out, So it
is in thy power to live here.

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But if men do not permit THEE, then get away out of life.

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Yet, so as if thou werst
suffering no harm. The house is smoky,

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and I quit it. Why dost
thou think that this is any trouble.

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But so long as nothing of the
kind drives me out, I remain

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am free, and no man shall
hinder me from doing what I choose.

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And I choose to do what is
according to the nature of the rational and

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social animal. The intelligence of the
universe is social. Accordingly, it has

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made the inferior things for the sake
of the superior, and it has fitted

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the superior to one another. Thou
seest how it has subordinated, coordinated,

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and assigned to everything its proper portion, and has brought together into conquord with

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one another the things which are the
best. How hast thou behaved hitherto to

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the gods, thy parents, brethren, children, teachers, to those who

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looked after thy infancy, to thy
friends, kinsfolk, to thy slaves.

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Consider if thou hast hitherto behaved to
all in such a way that this may

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be said of THEE never has wronged
a man in deed or word, and

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call to recollection, and both,
how many things thou hast passed through,

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and how many things thou hast been
able to endure, And that the history

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of thy life is now complete,
and thy service is ended. And how

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many beautiful things thou hast seen,
and how many pleasures and pains thou hast

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despised, and how many things called
honorable thou hast spurned, And to how

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many ill minded folks thou hast shown
a kind disposition? Why do unskilled and

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ignorant souls disturb him who has skill
and knowledge? What soul then has skill

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and knowledge, That which knows beginning
and end, and knows the reason,

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which pervades all substance, and through
all time, by fixed periods, administers

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the universe. Soon, very soon, thou wilt be ashes or a skeleton,

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and either a name or not even
a name. But name is sound

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and echo. And the things which
are much valued in life are empty and

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rotten and trifling, and like little
dogs biting one another, and little children

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quarreling, laughing, and then straightway
weeping. But fidelity and modesty, and

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justice and truth are fled up to
Olympus from the wide spread earth. What

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then is there which still detains thee
here? If the objects of sense are

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easily changed and never stand still,
and the organs of perception are dull and

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easily receive false impressions, and the
poor soul itself is an exhalation from blood.

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But to have good repute amid such
a world as this is an empty

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thing, Why then dost thou not
wait in tranquility for thy end, whether

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it is extinction or removal to another
state? And until that time comes?

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What is sufficient? Why what else
then, to venerate the gods and bless

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them, and to do good to
men, and to practice tolerance and self

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restraint. But as to everything which
is beyond the limits of the poor flesh

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and breath, to remember that this
is neither thine nor in thy power.

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Thou canst pass thy life in an
equable flow of happiness. If thou canst

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go by the right way, and
think and act in the right way.

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These two things are common both to
the soul of God and to the soul

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of man, and to the soul
of every rational being. Not to be

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hindered by another, and to hold
good, to consist in the disposition to

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justice and the practice of it,
and in this to let thy desire find

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its termination. If this is neither
my own badness nor an effect of my

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own badness, and the commonwealth is
not injured. Why am I troubled about

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it? And what is the harm
to the commonwealth? Do not be carried

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along inconsiderately by the appearance of things, but give help to all according to

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thy ability and their fitness. And
if they should have sustained loss in matters

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which are indifferent, do not imagine
this to be a damage, for it

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is a bad habit. But as
the old man, when he went away,

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asked back his foster child's top,
remembering that it was a top,

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so do thou in this case.
Also when thou art calling out on the

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rostra, hast thou forgotten man?
What these things are? Yes? But

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they are objects of great concern to
these people? Wilt thou too then be

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made fool for these things? I
was once a fortunate man, but I

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00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:10.440
lost it. I know not how. But fortunate means that a man has

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00:32:10.519 --> 00:32:16.640
a signed to himself a good fortune, And a good fortune is good disposition

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of the soul, good emotions,
good actions. End of Chapter five