WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:04.320 Book eight. This reflection also tends to the removal of the desire of empty 2 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:08.519 fame, that it is no longer in thy power to have lived the whole 3 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:12.039 of thy life, or at least thy life from thy youth upwards, like 4 00:00:12.039 --> 00:00:15.839 a philosopher. But both to many others and to thyself. It is plain 5 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:20.879 that thou art far from philosophy. Thou hast fallen into disorder, then, 6 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:24.879 so that it is no longer easy for THEE to get the reputation of a 7 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:29.559 philosopher, and thy plan of life also opposes it. If then thou hast 8 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:34.320 truly seen where the matter lies, throw away the thought how thou shalt seem 9 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:37.840 to others and be content? If thou shalt live the rest of thy life 10 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:42.119 in such wise as thy nature wills, observe then what it wills, and 11 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:46.600 let nothing else distract thee. For thou hast had experience of many wanderings without 12 00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:51.960 having found happiness anywhere, not in syllogisms, nor in wealth, nor in 13 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:57.079 reputation, nor in enjoyment, nor anywhere where is it then in doing what 14 00:00:57.159 --> 00:01:00.479 man's nature requires. How then shall a man do this? If he has 15 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:06.640 principles from which come his effects and his acts? What principles those which relate 16 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:11.040 to good and bad? The belief that there is nothing good for man which 17 00:01:11.079 --> 00:01:15.519 does not make him just, temperate, manly free, and that there is 18 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:19.079 nothing bad which does not do the contrary to what has been mentioned on the 19 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:23.680 occasion of every act, Ask thyself, how is this with respect to me? 20 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:26.760 Shall I repent of it? A little time? And I am dead 21 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:30.439 and all is gone? What more do I seek? If what I am 22 00:01:30.519 --> 00:01:34.200 now doing is work of an intelligent, living being and a social being, 23 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:38.239 and one who is under the same law with God. Alexander and Gaius and 24 00:01:38.280 --> 00:01:44.400 Pompeius, what are they in comparison with Diogenes and Heraclitis and Socrates? For 25 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:48.640 they were acquainted with things in their causes, forms, and their matter, 26 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:52.319 and the ruling principles of these men were the same. But as to the 27 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:55.640 others, how many things had they to care for? And to how many 28 00:01:55.640 --> 00:01:59.879 things were they slaves? Consider that men will do the same things. Nevertheless, 29 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:04.040 even though thou shouldst burst, this is the chief thing. Be not 30 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:07.560 perturbed, For all things are according to the nature of the universal, And 31 00:02:07.639 --> 00:02:13.520 in a little time thou wilt be nobody in nowhere like Hadrian and Augustus in 32 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:16.520 the next place, having fix thy eyes steadily on thy business, look at 33 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:21.520 it, and at the same time remembering that it is thy duty to be 34 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:25.719 a good man, and what mans nature demands, do that without turning aside, 35 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:30.840 and speak as it seems to thee most just. Only let it be 36 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:35.159 with a good disposition, and with them modesty and without hypocrisy. The nature 37 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:38.919 of the universal has this work to do, to remove to that place the 38 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:43.159 things which are in this, to change them, to take them away hence, 39 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:45.919 and to carry them there. All things are changed, yet we need 40 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:50.159 not fear anything new. All things are familiar to us, but the distribution 41 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:54.240 of them still remains the same. Every nature is contented with itself when it 42 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:59.840 goes on its way well, and irrational nature goes on its way well when 43 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.879 it when its thoughts it a sense to nothing false or uncertain, and when 44 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:08.159 it directs its movements to social acts only, and when it confines its desires 45 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:12.439 and aversions into the things which are in its power, and when it is 46 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:16.800 satisfied with everything that is assigned to it by the common nature. For of 47 00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:22.840 this common nature, every particular nature is a part as the nature of the 48 00:03:22.919 --> 00:03:25.680 leaf is a part of the nature of the plant, except that in the 49 00:03:25.719 --> 00:03:29.599 plant, the nature of the leaf is part of a nature which has not 50 00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:34.599 perception or reason, and is subject to be impeded. But the nature of 51 00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:38.560 man is part of a nature which is not subject to impediments, and is 52 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:44.479 intelligent and just, since it gives to everything in equal portions and according to 53 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:46.919 its worth time, substance, cause, form, activity, and incident. 54 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:52.759 But examine not to discover that any one thing compared with any other single thing, 55 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:57.280 is equal in all respects. But by taking all the parts together of 56 00:03:57.319 --> 00:04:01.439 one thing and comparing them with all the parts together of another, thou hast 57 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:06.639 not leisure or ability to read. But thou hast leisure or ability to check 58 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:12.520 arrogance. Thou hast leisure to be superior to pleasure and pain. Thou hast 59 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:15.879 leisure to be superior to love of fame, and not to be vexed its 60 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:21.120 stupid and ungrateful people, nay even to care for them. Let no man 61 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:27.480 any longer hear thee finding fault with the court life or with thy own repentance 62 00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:30.680 is a kind of self reproof for having neglected something useful, but that which 63 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:34.279 is good, must be something useful, and the perfect good man should look 64 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:39.519 after it. But no such man would ever repent of having refused any sensual 65 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:43.639 pleasure. Pleasure, then, is neither good out nor useful this thing? 66 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:47.839 What is it in itself in its own constitution? What is its substance and 67 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:51.800 material? And what its causal nature or form? And what is it doing 68 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:57.279 in the world? And how long does it subsist? When thou risest from 69 00:04:57.319 --> 00:05:01.519 sleep with reluctance, remember that it is a according to thy constitution and according 70 00:05:01.560 --> 00:05:05.680 to human nature, to perform social acts. But sleeping is common also to 71 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:11.800 irrational animals. But that which is according to each individual's nature is also more 72 00:05:11.800 --> 00:05:16.480 peculiarly its own, and more suitable to its nature, and indeed also more 73 00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:20.519 agreeable. Constantly, And if it be possible, on the occasion of every 74 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:26.439 impression on the soul, apply to it the principles of physic, of ethic, 75 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:30.600 and of dialectic. Whatever man thou meetest with, immediately say to thyself 76 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:34.079 what opinions has this man about good and bad? For if with respect to 77 00:05:34.120 --> 00:05:38.600 pleasure and pain in the causes of each, and with respect to fame and 78 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:42.879 ignominy, death and life he has such and such opinions, it will seem 79 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:46.079 nothing wonderful or strange to me if he does such and such things, and 80 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:50.240 I shall bear in mind that he is compelled to do so. Remember that, 81 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:55.480 as it is a shame to be surprised if the fig tree produces figs, 82 00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:58.800 so it is to be surprised if the world produces such and such things 83 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:02.759 of which it is productive. And for the physician and the helmsman, it 84 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:05.360 is a shame to be surprised if a man has a fever, or if 85 00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:11.279 the wind is unfavorable. Remember that to change thy opinion and to follow him 86 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:15.360 who corrects thy error, is as consistent with freedom as it is to persist 87 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:18.879 in thy error. For it is thy own the activity which is exerted according 88 00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:24.720 to thy own movement and judgment, and indeed according to thy own understanding. 89 00:06:24.759 --> 00:06:27.879 Too. If a thing is in thy own power, why dost thou do 90 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.319 it? But if it is in the power of another, whom dost thou 91 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:36.399 blame? The atoms, chance or the gods both are foolish. Thou must 92 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:41.360 blame nobody. For if thou canst correct that which is the cause, but 93 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:45.160 if thou canst not do this correct, at least the thing itself. But 94 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:47.399 if thou canst not do even this, of what use is it to thee 95 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:51.920 to find fault? For nothing should be done without a purpose. That which 96 00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:55.519 has died falls not out of the universe. If it stays here, it 97 00:06:55.639 --> 00:07:00.120 also changes here and is dissolved into its proper parts, which are elements of 98 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:03.759 the universe and of thyself. And these two change, and they murmur, 99 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:06.879 Not everything exists for some end? A horse, a vine. Why dost 100 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:11.000 thou wonder? Even the sun will say I am for some purpose, and 101 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:14.920 the rest of the gods will say the same. For what purpose? Then 102 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:18.759 art thou to enjoy pleasure? See? If common sense allows this, Nature 103 00:07:18.759 --> 00:07:23.560 has had regard in everything, no less to the end than to the beginning 104 00:07:23.720 --> 00:07:26.920 and the continuance. Just like the man who throws up a ball, What 105 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:29.600 good is it, then for the ball to be thrown up or harmed for 106 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:31.680 it to come down, or even to have fallen. And what good is 107 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:35.639 it to the bubble while it holds together, or what harm when it is 108 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:40.600 burst? The same may be said of a light. Also turn it the 109 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:43.879 body inside out, and see what kind of thing it is? And when 110 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:46.079 it has grown old, what kind of thing it becomes? And when it 111 00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:50.079 is diseased short lived? Are both the praiser and the praised, and the 112 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:55.199 rememberer and the remembered. And all this in a nook of this part of 113 00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:58.079 the world. And not even here do all agree, No, not anyone 114 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:01.680 with himself, And the whole earth too is a point attend to the matter 115 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:05.120 which is before thee, whether it is an opinion or an act or a 116 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:09.879 word. Thou sufferest this justly, for thou choosest rather to become good tomorrow, 117 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:13.160 then to be good today. Am I doing anything? I do it 118 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:18.319 with reference to the good of mankind? Does anything happen to me? I 119 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:22.199 receive it and refer it to the Gods and the source of all things from 120 00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:26.240 which all that happens is derived, such as bathing appears to THEE, oil, 121 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:31.720 sweat, dirt, filthy water, all things disgusting. So is every 122 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:35.039 part of life and everything. Lucilla saw Verus die, and then Lucilla died. 123 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:39.879 Secunda saw Maximus die, and then Secunda died. Epitin Canus saw Diatomus 124 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:45.840 die, and epitin Canus died. Antoninus saw Faustina die, and then Antoninus 125 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:50.200 died, such as everything sailor saw Hadrian die, and then Cellar died, 126 00:08:50.519 --> 00:08:54.759 and those sharp witted men either sears or men inflated with pride, where they, 127 00:08:54.919 --> 00:08:58.240 for instance, the sharp witted men Cherax and Demetrius, the Platonist, 128 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:03.720 and Eudaemon, and anyone else like them, all ephemeral, dead long ago. 129 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:07.960 Some indeed have not been remembered even for a short time, And others 130 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:11.519 have become the heroes of fables, and again others have disappeared even from fables. 131 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:16.759 Remember this, then, that this little compound thyself must either be dissolved, 132 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:20.679 or thy poor breath must be extinguished, or be removed and placed elsewhere. 133 00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:24.840 It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper works of a man. 134 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:28.480 Now it is a proper work of a man to be benevolent to his 135 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:33.240 own kind, to despise the movements of the senses, to form a just 136 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:37.559 judgment of plausible appearances, and to take a survey of the nature of the 137 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:43.559 universe and of the things which happen in it. There are three relations between 138 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:46.679 THEE and other things. The one too the body which surrounds THEE. The 139 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:50.279 second to the divine cause from which all things come to all, and the 140 00:09:50.279 --> 00:09:54.279 third to those who live with thee. Pain is either an evil to the 141 00:09:54.279 --> 00:09:58.080 body, then let the body say what it thinks of it, or to 142 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:03.080 the soul. But it is in the power of the soul too maintain its 143 00:10:03.080 --> 00:10:07.399 own serenity and tranquility, and not to think that pain is an evil. 144 00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:11.720 For every judgment and movement, and desire and aversion is within, and no 145 00:10:11.879 --> 00:10:16.919 evil ascends so high. Wipe out thy imaginations by often saying to thyself, 146 00:10:18.279 --> 00:10:22.080 now, it is in my power to let no badness be in this soul, 147 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:26.519 nor desire, nor any perturbation at all. But looking at all things, 148 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:28.879 I see what is their nature, and I use each according to its 149 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:35.440 value. Remember this power which thou pass from nature. Speak both in the 150 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:37.720 Senate and to every man, whoever he may be, appropriately, not with 151 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:43.759 any affectation. Use plain discourse. Augustus's court, wife, daughter, descendants, 152 00:10:43.799 --> 00:10:48.799 ancestors, sister Agrippa, kinsman, intimates, friends, Arius, Messinus, 153 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:52.600 physicians, and sacrificing priests. The whole court is dead. Then turn 154 00:10:52.679 --> 00:10:56.960 to the rest, not considering the death of a single man, but of 155 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:00.440 a whole race, as of the Pompeii and that which is in described on 156 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:03.919 the tombs the last of his race. Then consider what trouble those before them 157 00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:09.600 have had that they might leave a successor, And then that of necessity someone 158 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:13.600 must be the last. Again, here consider the death of a whole race. 159 00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:16.919 It is thy duty to order thy life well in every single act. 160 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:20.120 And if every act does its duty as far as its possible, be content, 161 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:24.120 and no one is able to hinder THEE, so that each act shall 162 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:28.279 not do its duty, but something external will stand in the way. Nothing 163 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:33.080 will stand in the way of thy acting justly and soberly and considerately. But 164 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:37.600 perhaps some other active power will be hindered well. But by acquiescing in the 165 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:41.799 hindrance, and by being content to transfer thy efforts to that which is allowed, 166 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:46.480 another opportunity of action is immediately put before THEE in place of that which 167 00:11:46.600 --> 00:11:50.080 was hindered, and one which will adapt itself to this ordering of which we 168 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:50.679 are speaking.