WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:04.559 The universal cause is like a winter torrent. It carries everything along with it. 2 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:09.439 But how worthless are all these poor people who are engaged in matters political, 3 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:13.439 and, as they suppose, are playing the philosopher all drivelers. Well, 4 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:17.120 then, man, do what nature now requires. Set thyself in motion 5 00:00:17.239 --> 00:00:20.559 if it is in thy power, and do not look about thee to see 6 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:25.239 if anyone will observe it, nor yet expect Plato's republic. But be content 7 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:30.239 if the smallest thing goes on, Well, and consider such an event to 8 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:34.280 be no small matter. For who can change men's opinions? And without a 9 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:38.159 change of opinions, what else is there than the slavery of men who groan 10 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:42.640 while they pretend to obey. Come now and tell me of Alexander and Philip 11 00:00:42.679 --> 00:00:47.679 and Demetrius of Falorum. They themselves shall judge whether they discovered what the common 12 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:53.479 nature required and trained themselves accordingly. But if they acted like tragedy heroes, 13 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:57.479 no one has condemned me to imitate them. Simple and modest is the work 14 00:00:57.479 --> 00:01:02.119 of philosophy. Draw me not aside to indolence and pride. Look down from 15 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:07.079 above on the countless herds of men and their countless solemnities, and the infinitely 16 00:01:07.159 --> 00:01:11.799 varied voyagings in storms and calms, and the differences among those who are born, 17 00:01:11.959 --> 00:01:17.439 who live together and die. And consider too the life lived by others 18 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:21.439 in olden time, and the life of those who will live after THEE, 19 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:25.920 and the life now lived among barbarous nations. And how many know not even 20 00:01:25.959 --> 00:01:29.519 thy name, and how many will soon forget it, And how they who 21 00:01:29.560 --> 00:01:34.200 perhaps now are praising THEE will very soon blame THEE. And that neither a 22 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:38.200 posthumous name is of any value, nor reputation, nor anything else. Let 23 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:44.040 there be freedom from perturbations with respect to the things which come from the external 24 00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:47.799 cause. And let there be justice in the things done by virtue of the 25 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:52.159 internal cause. That is, let there be movement and action terminating in this 26 00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:57.079 in social acts, for this is according to thy nature. Thou canst remove 27 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:00.680 out of the way many useless things, among those which disturb THEE, for 28 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:06.799 they lie entirely in thy opinion. And thou wilt then gain for thyself ample 29 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:12.080 space by comprehending the whole universe in thy mind, and by contemplating the eternity 30 00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:15.599 of time and observing the rapid change of every several things. How short is 31 00:02:15.639 --> 00:02:20.680 the time from birth to dissolution, and the illimitable time before birth, as 32 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:25.039 well as the equally boundless time after dissolution. And all that thou seest will 33 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:30.639 quickly perish, and those who have been spectators of its dissolution will very soon 34 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:34.719 perish too. And he who dies at these extremist old age will be brought 35 00:02:34.759 --> 00:02:38.319 into the same condition with him who died prematurely. What are these men's leading 36 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:43.159 principles? And about what kind of things are they busy? And for what 37 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:46.280 kind of reasons do they love and honor? Imagine that thou seest their poor 38 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:51.919 souls laid bare when they think that they do harm by their blame or good 39 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:55.639 by their praise. What an idea loss is nothing else than change, But 40 00:02:55.719 --> 00:03:00.439 the universal nature delights in change and in obedience to her. All things are 41 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:04.800 now done well, and from eternity have been done in like form, and 42 00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:08.360 will be such to time without end. What then, dost thou say that 43 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:13.159 all things have been and all things always will be bad, and that no 44 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:16.879 power has ever been found in so many gods to rectify these things. But 45 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:23.400 the world has been condemned to be found in never ceasing evil, the rottenness 46 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:27.680 of the matter which is the foundation of everything, water, dust, bones, 47 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:30.080 filth, or again marble rocks, the callosities of the earth, and 48 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:35.639 gold and silver, the sediments and garments, only bits of hair and purple 49 00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:38.520 dye, blood and everything else is of the same kind. And that which 50 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:42.840 is of the nature of breath is also another thing of the same kind, 51 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:46.400 changing from this to that. Enough of this wretched life and murmuring and apish 52 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:51.240 tricks. Why art thou disturbed? What is there new in this? What 53 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:53.919 unsettles thee? Is it the form of the thing? Look at it? 54 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:59.199 Or is it the matter? Look at it? But besides these there is 55 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:02.400 nothing towards the gods. Then now become at last more simple and better. 56 00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:06.240 It is the same weather. We examine these things for one hundred years or 57 00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:10.719 three. If any man has done wrong, the harm is his own. 58 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:15.719 But perhaps he has not done wrong either. All things proceed from one intelligent 59 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.920 source and come together as in one body, and the part ought not to 60 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:24.040 find fault with what is done for the benefit of the whole. Or there 61 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:30.399 are only atoms and nothing else, then mixture and dispersion. Why then art 62 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:34.319 thou disturbed? Say to the ruling faculty, Art thou dead, Art thou 63 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:39.879 corrupted, Art thou playing the hypocrite? Art thou become a beast. Dost 64 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:44.040 thou herd and feed with the rest. Either the gods have no power, 65 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:47.480 they have power. If then they have no power, why dost thou pray 66 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:51.720 to them? But if they have power, why dost thou not pray for 67 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:56.759 them to give THEE the faculty of not fearing any of the things which thou 68 00:04:56.800 --> 00:05:00.360 fearest, or of not desiring any of the which thou desirest, or not 69 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:05.240 being pained at anything, rather than pray that any of these things should not 70 00:05:05.319 --> 00:05:09.879 happen or happen. For certainly, if they can cooperate with men, they 71 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:14.319 can cooperate for these purposes. But perhaps thou wilt say, the gods have 72 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:17.560 placed them in thy power. Well, then is it not better to use 73 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:21.319 what is in thy power like a free man than to desire in a slavish 74 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:26.360 and abject way what is not in thy power. And who has told THEE 75 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:29.600 that the gods do not aid us even in the things which are in our 76 00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:33.240 power, begin then to pray for such things, And thou wilt see one 77 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:36.759 man prays, Thus, how shall I be able to lie with that woman? 78 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:42.160 Do thou pray? Thus? How shall I not desire to lie with 79 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:45.959 her? Another? Praise? Thus? How shall I be released from this? 80 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:49.439 Another praise? How shall I not desire to be released another? Thus? 81 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:51.720 How shall I not lose my little son? Thou? Thus? How 82 00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:56.079 shall I not be afraid to lose him? In fine? Turn thy prayers? 83 00:05:56.079 --> 00:06:00.000 This way? And see what comes? Epicurus says, in my sickness, 84 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:03.199 my conversation was not about my bodily sufferings, Nor says he, did 85 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:08.680 I talk on such subjects to those who visited me. But I continued to 86 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:12.879 discourse on the nature of things as before, keeping to this main point, 87 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:15.839 how the mind, while participating in such movements as go on in the poor 88 00:06:15.879 --> 00:06:19.959 flesh, shall be free from perturbations, then maintain its proper good. Nor 89 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.120 did I, he says, give the physicians if an opportunity of putting on 90 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:28.240 solemn looks as if they were doing something great. But my life went on 91 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:31.279 well and happily. Do then the same that he did, both in sickness, 92 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:34.839 if thou art sick, and in any other circumstances. For never to 93 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:41.759 desert philosophy in any events that may befall us, nor to hold trifling talk, 94 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:45.720 either with an ignorant man or with one unacquainted with nature, as a 95 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:48.959 principle of all schools of philosophy, but to be intent only on that which 96 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:53.720 thou art now doing, and on the instrument by which thou doest it. 97 00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:59.680 When thou art offended with any man's shameless conduct, immediately ask thyself, is 98 00:06:59.720 --> 00:07:04.319 it possible, then that shameless men should not be in the world. It 99 00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:10.759 is not possible. Do not then require what is impossible? For this man 100 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:13.920 also is one of those shameless men who must, of necessity be in the 101 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:17.079 world. Let the same considerations be present to thy mind in the case of 102 00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:20.959 the knave and the faithless man, and of every man who does wrong in 103 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:26.920 any way. For at the same time that thou dost remind thyself that it 104 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:30.839 is impossible that such kind of men should not exist, thou wilt become more 105 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:35.399 kindly disposed towards everyone individually. It is useful to perceive this too immediately when 106 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:41.160 the occasion arises. What virtue Nature has given to man to oppose to every 107 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:46.319 wrongful act? For she has given to man as an antidote against the stupid 108 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:49.600 man a mildness, and against another kind of man some other power. And 109 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:55.240 in all cases it is possible for THEE to correct by teaching the man who 110 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:58.680 is gone astray. For every man who errors misses his object and is gone 111 00:07:58.759 --> 00:08:03.160 astray. Besides, wherein hast thou been injured? For thou wilt find that 112 00:08:03.240 --> 00:08:07.560 no one among those against whom thou art irritated, has done anything by which 113 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:11.759 thy mind could be made worse. But that which is evil to THEE and 114 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:15.519 harmful has its foundation only in the mind. And what harm is done, 115 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:20.079 or what is there strange if the man who has not been instructed does the 116 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:24.800 acts of an uninstructed man. Consider whether thou shouldst not rather blame thyself, 117 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:28.560 because thou dost not expect such a man to err in such a way. 118 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:31.720 For thou hadst means given THEE by thy reason to suppose that it was likely 119 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:35.639 that he would commit this error, And yet thou hast forgotten and art amazed 120 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:39.960 that he is erred. But most of all, when thou blamest a man 121 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:45.600 as faithless or ungrateful, turned to thyself, for the fault is manifestly thy 122 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:48.600 own. Whether thou didst trust that a man who had such a disposition would 123 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:54.360 keep his promise, Or when conferring thy kindness, thou didst not confer it 124 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:58.320 absolutely, nor yet in such way as to have received from thy very act 125 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:01.080 all the profit. What more dost thou want when thou hast done a man 126 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:07.600 of service? Art thou not content that thou hast done something conformable to thy 127 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:11.759 nature? And dost thou seek to be paid for it, just as if 128 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:18.080 the eye demanded a recompense for seeing, or the feat for walking. For 129 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:22.519 as these members are formed for a particular purpose, and by working according to 130 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:28.159 their several constitutions, obtain what is their own, so also as man is 131 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.639 formed by nature to acts of benevolence. When he has done anything benevolent or 132 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:37.159 in any other way conducive to the common interest, he has acted conformably to 133 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:39.440 his constitution, and he gets what is his own.