BOOK V.

1. In the morning, when you find yourself unwilling to rise, have this

thought at hand: I arise to the proper business of man, and shall I

repine at setting about that work for which I was born and brought

into the world? Am I equipped for nothing but to lie among the

bed-clothes and keep warm? "But," you say, "it is more pleasant so."

Is pleasure, then, the object of your being, and not action, and the

exercise of your powers? Do you not see the smallest plants, the

little sparrows, the ants, the spiders, the bees, all doing their

part, and working for order in the Universe, as far as in them lies?

And will you refuse the part in this design which is laid on man? Will

you not pursue the course which accords with your own nature? You say,

"I must have rest." Assuredly; but nature appoints a measure for rest,

just as for eating and drinking. In rest you go beyond these limits,

and beyond what is enough; but in action you do not fill the measure,

and remain well within your powers. You do not love yourself; if you

did, you would love your nature and its purpose. Others, who love the

art that they have made their own, exhaust themselves with labouring

at it unwashed and unfed. But you honour your own nature less than the

carver honours his carving, less than the dancer honours his dancing,

the miser his gold, or the vain man his empty fame. These men, when

desire takes them, count food and sleep well lost if they can better

realize the object of their longings; and shall the pursuit of the

common good seem less precious in your eyes and worthy of a lesser

zeal?

2. How easy it is to thrust away and blot out each impression that is

disturbing and unfit; and forthwith to enjoy perfect tranquillity.

3. Judge no speech or action unworthy of you which is consistent with

nature. Be not dissuaded by any consequent criticism or censure from

others; but, if the speech or action be honourable, judge yourself

worthy to say or do it. Those who criticize you have their own

conscience and their own motives. These you are not to regard, but

follow a straight course, guided by your own nature and the nature of

the Universe, both of which point the same way.

4. I walk the way which is Nature's, until at last I shall fall and be

at rest; breathing out my breath into the air wherefrom I daily drew

it, falling on that earth whence my father drew his seed, my mother

her blood, and my nurse the milk which nourished me; on that earth

which has given me my daily food and drink through all these years,

which sustains my footsteps, and bears with me--her manifold abuser.

5. Men cannot admire you for your shrewdness. Be it so. But there is

many another quality of which you cannot say, "It is not in me."

Display these; they are wholly in your power. Be sincere, be

dignified, be painstaking; scorn pleasure, repine not at fate, need

little; be kind and frank; love not exaggeration and vain talk; strive

after greatness. Do you not see how many virtues you might show, of

which you are yet content to fall short, though you have not the

excuse that they are absent, or that you are unfit for them? Are you

driven by some want in your equipment to be querulous, to be miserly,

to be a flatterer, to reproach your body with your own faults, to

cringe to others, to be vainglorious, to have all this restlessness in

your soul? No, by the Gods, you might have escaped these vices long

ago. All your fault, then, is that you are somewhat slow and dull of

comprehension. This you should strive to correct by exercise; neither

neglecting your dulness nor taking a mean pleasure in it.

6. Some men, when they have done you a favour, are very ready to

reckon up the obligation they have conferred. Others, again, are not

so forward in their claims, but yet in their minds consider you their

debtor, and well know the value of what they have done. A third sort

seem to be unconscious of their service. They are like the vine, which

produces its clusters and is satisfied when it has yielded its proper

fruit. The horse when he has run his course, the hound when he has

followed the track, the bee when it has made its honey, and the man

when he has done good to others, make no noisy boast of it, but set

out to do the same once more, as the vine in its season produces its

new clusters again. "Should we, then, be among those who in a manner

know not what they do?" Assuredly. "But this very thing implies

intelligence; for it is a property of the unselfish man to perceive

that he is acting unselfishly, and, surely, to wish his fellow also to

perceive it." True, but if you misapprehend my saying, you will enter

the ranks of those of whom I spoke before. They, too, are led astray

by specious reasonings. But if you have the will to understand what my

principle truly means, fear not that in following it you will neglect

the duty of unselfishness.

7. This is a prayer of the Athenians: "Rain, rain, dear Zeus, on the

plains and ploughlands of the Athenians." Man should either not pray

at all, or pray after this frank and simple fashion.

8. Just as one says that Aesculapius has prescribed a course of riding

for some one, or the cold bath, or walking bare-footed; so it may be

said that the guiding Mind prescribes for a man, disease, or

mutilation, or losses, or the like. "Prescribed," in the first case,

means that such treatment was enjoined on the patient as might

coincide with the needs of his health: in the second case it means

that each man's fortune is appointed to coincide with the purposes of

fate. Now, the very word "coincidence" implies something like that

correspondence of squared stones in a wall or pyramid, which workmen

speak of when they fit them together in some structure. All things are

united in one bond of harmony; and just as all existing bodies go to

make the visible world what it is, so destiny, as the general cause,

is compounded of all particular causes. The most unphilosophical grasp

my meaning, for they say, "Fate gave this to so-and-so: this was

appointed or prescribed for him." Let us, then, receive the decrees of

Fate as we receive the prescriptions of Aesculapius. He prescribes

many things for us, and some of them are harsh medicines. Yet we obey

him gladly in the hope of health. Conceive therefore that, for Nature,

the doing of her work and the fulfilling of her purposes are, as it

were, her health; and welcome all that happens, even should it seem

hard fortune, because it tends to the health of the Universe, and to

the prosperity and felicity of Zeus. He would not have brought this or

that on any man did it not contribute to the good of the whole, nor

does any part of Nature's system bring aught to pass which suits not

with her government. For two reasons, then, you should content

yourself with what befalls you. The first is, that it was created and

ordained for you, and was in a manner related to you from the

beginning, in the weaving of all destinies from the great first

causes. The second is, that even what happens severally to each man

contributes to the well-being and prosperity of the Mind which governs

all things, and, indeed, even to its continued existence. For the

whole is maimed if you break in the slightest degree this continuous

connexion, whether of parts or causes. And this you are doing your

best to break and to destroy whenever you repine at fate.

9. Fret not, neither despond nor be disheartened, if it be not always

possible for you to act according to your principles of perfection. If

you are beaten off, return again to the effort, and content yourself

that your conduct is generally such as becomes a man. Love the good to

which you return; and come back to Philosophy, not as one who comes to

a master, but as one whose eyes ache recurs to sponge and egg, as

another has recourse to plasters, or a third to fomentation. And thus

you will make no empty show of obeying reason; but find that it gives

you rest. Remember that Philosophy demands no more than what your

nature requires. But you are wont to desire other things which accord

not with your nature. "For what," you say, "can be more delightful

than such things?" Is not this the very snare which Pleasure sets for

us? Yet consider if magnanimity, frankness, simplicity, kindness, and

piety be not even greater delights. And what is sweeter than wisdom

itself, when you are conscious of security and felicity in your powers

of apprehension and reason?

10. The natures of things are so covered up from us, that to many

philosophers, and these no mean ones, all things seem incomprehensible.

The Stoics themselves own that it is difficult to comprehend anything

with certainty. All our assent is inconsistent, for where is the

consistent man? Consider, too, the objects of our knowledge: how

transitory are they, and how mean! How often they are in the

possession of the debauchee, of the harlot, of the robber! Review

again the morals of your contemporaries: it is scarcely possible to

tolerate the best-mannered among them; not to say that a man can

scarcely tolerate himself. Amid such darkness and filth, in this

perpetual flux of substance, of time, of motion, and of things moved,

I can perceive nothing worthy of esteem or of desire. On the contrary,

we should comfort ourselves as we await our natural dissolution, and

not be vexed at the delay, but find rest in these thoughts: first,

that nothing can befall us which is not in accord with the nature of

all things; second, that it is always in our power not to do anything

against the divine spirit within us: to this no force can compel us.

11. To what end am I using my soul? Let me examine myself as to this

on all occasions, and consider what is passing now in that part of me

which men call the ruler of the rest. Let me think, too, whose is the

soul that I have. Is it a child's? Is it a youth's, a timorous

woman's, or a tyrant's; the soul of a tame beast or of a savage one?

12. Of what value the things are which the many account good you may

judge from this: If a man has conceived certain things, such as

prudence, temperance, justice, or courage, to be good in the real

sense, he cannot, while he is of this mind, readily listen to the

traditional gibe about a superabundance of good things. It will not

fit the case. But when he has in mind things which seem good in the

eyes of the multitude, he is perfectly willing to hear and accept as

quite appropriate the raillery of the comic poet. Thus even the

ordinary mind perceives the difference. For if this were not so, we

would not in the first case repudiate the jest as offensive, nor would

we salute it as a happy witticism when applied to wealth or to the

opulence which produces luxury and ostentation. Proceed then, and put

the question whether these things are to be valued and esteemed good

of which we have such an opinion that we may aptly say of their

possessor: "He has so many possessions about him that he has no place

wherein to ease himself."

13. I consist of a formal and a material element. Neither of these two

shall die and fade into nothingness, since neither came into being out

of nothing. Every part of me, then, will be transformed and ranged

again in some part of the Universe. That part of the Universe will

itself be transmuted into another part, and so on for all time

coming. By some such change as this I came into being, likewise my

progenitors, and so back from all time past. There is no objection to

this theory, even though the world be governed by determined cycles of

revolution.

14. Reason, and the art of thinking, are powers which are complete in

themselves, and in their special processes. They start from their own

internal principle, and proceed to their appointed end. Such mental

acts are called right, to indicate that the course of thought is right

or straight.

15. Nothing should be said to be part of a man which is not part of

his human nature. Things that are not part of his essence cannot be

required of him, and have no part in the promise or the fulfilment of

his nature. Therefore, in such things lies neither the end of man nor

the good which crowns that end. Moreover, if anything were really part

of a man, it would not be proper for him to despise it or revolt

against it, nor would he be praiseworthy who made himself independent

thereof. If non-essential things were indeed good, he could be no good

man who stinted himself in the use of them; but, as we see, the more a

man goes without them, and the more he endures the want of them, the

better a man he is.

16. The character of your most frequent impressions will be the

character of your mind. The soul takes colour from its impressions,

therefore steep it in such thoughts as these:--Wherever a man can

live, he can live well. A man can live in a court, therefore he can

live well there. Again everything works towards that for which it was

created, and that to which anything works is its end; and in the end

of everything is to be found the advantage and the good of it. Now,

for reasoning beings, Society is the highest good, for it has long

since been proved that we were brought into the world to be

social. Nay, was it not manifest that the inferior kinds were formed

for the superior, and the superior for each other? Now, the animate is

superior to the inanimate, and beings that reason to those that only

live.

17. To pursue impossibilities is madness; and it is impossible that

the wicked should not act in some such way as this.

18. Nothing can befall any man which he is not fitted by nature to

bear. The like events befall others, and either through ignorance that

the event has happened, or from ostentation of magnanimity, they stand

firm and unhurt by them. Strange then that ignorance or ostentation

should have more strength than wisdom!

19. Material things cannot touch the soul at all, nor have any access

to it: neither can they bend or move it. The soul is bent or moved by

itself alone, and remodels all things that present themselves from

without in accordance with whatever judgment it adopts within.

20. In one respect man is nearest and dearest to me; in so far, that

is, as I must do good to him and bear with him. But in so far as some

men obstruct me in my natural activities, man enters the class of

things indifferent to me, no less than the sun, the wind, or the wild

beast. By these indeed some special action may be impeded, but no

interference with my purpose or with my inward disposition can come

from them, thanks to my exceptive and modifying powers. For the mind

can convert and change everything that impedes its activity into

matter for its action; hindrance in its work becomes its real help,

and every obstruction makes for its progress.

21. Reverence that which is most excellent in the Universe, and the

most excellent is that which employs all things and rules

all. Likewise reverence that which is most excellent in yourself. It

is of the same nature as the former, for it is that which employs all

else that is in you, and that by which your whole life is ordered.

22. That which harms not the city cannot harm the citizen. Apply this

rule whenever you have the idea that you are hurt. If the state be not

hurt by this, neither am I harmed, and if the state be hurt we should

not be wrathful with him who hurt it. Consider where lay his

oversight.

23. Consider frequently how swiftly things that exist or are coming

into existence are swept by and carried away. Their substance is as a

river perpetually flowing; their actions are in continual change, and

their causes subject to ten thousand alterations. Scarcely anything is

stable, and the vast eternities of past and future in which all things

are swallowed up are close upon us on both hands. Is he not then a

fool who is puffed up with success in the things of this world, or is

distracted, or worried, as if he were in a time of trouble likely to

endure for long.

24. Keep in mind the universe of being in which your part is exceeding

small, the universe of time of which a brief and fleeting moment is

assigned to you; the destiny of things, and how infinitesimal your

share therein.

25. Does another wrong me? Let him look to that. His character and his

actions are his own. So much is in my present possession as is

dispensed to me by the nature of things, and I act as my own nature

now bids me.

26. Let the leading and ruling part of your soul stand unmoved by the

stirrings of the flesh, whether gentle or rude. Let it not commingle

with them, but keep itself apart, and confine these passions to their

proper bodily parts; and if they rise into the soul by any sympathy

with the body to which it is united, then we must not attempt to

resist the sensation, seeing that it is of our nature; but let not the

soul, for its part, add thereto the conception that the sensation is

good or bad.

27. Live with the Gods. And he lives with the Gods who continually

displays to them his soul, living in satisfaction with its lot, and

doing the will of the inward spirit, a portion of his own divinity

which Zeus has given to every man for a ruler and a guide. This is the

intelligence, the reason that abides in us all.

28. Are you angry with one whose armpits smell or whose breath is

foul? What is the use? His mouth or his arm-pits are so, and the

consequence must follow. But, you say, man is a reasonable being, and

could by attention discern in what he offends. Very well, you too have

reason. Use your reason to move his; instruct, admonish him. If he

listens, you will cure him, and there will be no reason for anger. You

are neither actor nor harlot.

29. As you intend to live at your going, so you can live here. But, if

men do not permit you, then depart from life, yet so as if no

misfortune had befallen you. If my house be smoky, I go out, and where

is the great matter? So long as no such trouble drives me out, I

remain at my will, and no one will prevent me from acting as I

will. And my will is the will of a reasonable and social being.

30. The intelligence of the Universe is social. It has therefore made

the inferior orders for the sake of the superior; and has suited the

superior beings for one another. You see how it hath subordinated, and

co-ordinated, and distributed to each according to its merit, and

engaged the nobler beings to a mutual agreement and unanimity.

31. How have you behaved towards the Gods, towards your parents, your

brothers, your wife, your children, your teachers, those who reared

you, your friends, your intimates, your slaves? Can it be said that

you have ever acted towards all of them in the spirit of the line:--

He wrought no harshness, spoke no unkind word?

Recollect all you have passed through, all that you have had strength

to bear. Your life is now a tale that is told, and your service is all

discharged. Recall the fair sights you have seen, the pleasures and

the pains you have despised, the so-called glory that you have

foregone, the unkindly men to whom you have shown kindness.

32. How is it that unskilled and ignorant souls disturb the skilful

and intelligent? What, I ask, is the skilful and intelligent soul? It

is that which knows the beginning and the end, and the reason which

pervades all being, and by determined cycles rules the Universe for

all time.

33. In a little space you will be only ashes and dry bones and a name,

perhaps not even that. A name is but so much empty sound and echo, and

the things which are so much prized in life are empty, mean, and

rotten. We are as puppies that snap at one another, as children that

quarrel, laugh, and presently weep again. But integrity, modesty,

justice, and truth,

Up from the wide-wayed earth have soared to heaven.

What then should detain you here? Things sensible are ever changing

and unstable. The senses are dull and easily deceived. The poor soul

itself is a mere exhalation from blood. Fame in such a world is a

thing of naught. What then? You await calmly extinction or

transformation, whichever it may be. And till the fulness of the time

be come what is to suffice you? What else than a life spent in fearing

and praising the Gods, and in the practice of benevolence, toleration

and forbearance towards men? And whatsoever lies beyond the bounds of

flesh and breath, remember that it is neither yours nor in your power.

34. A prosperous life may be yours if only you can take the right

path, and keep to it in all you think or do. Two advantages are common

to Gods, to men, and to every rational soul. In the first place,

nothing external to themselves has power to hinder them. In the

second, their happiness lies in having mind and conduct disposed to

justice, and in the power to make that the end of all desire.

35. If the fault be not my sin, nor a consequence of it, if there be

no damage to the common good, why am I perturbed about it? Wherein is

the harm to the common good?

36. Be not incautiously carried away by sentiment, but aid him that

needs it according to your power and his desert. If his need be of the

things which are indifferent, think not that he is harmed thereby, for

so to think is an evil habit. But as, in the Comedy, the old man begs

to have his fosterchild's top for a keepsake, though he knows well

that it is a top and nothing more, so should you act also in the

affairs of life.

You mount the rostra and cry aloud, "O man, have you forgotten what is

the real value of what you seek?" "No, but the many are keen in their

pursuit of it." "Are you then to be a fool because they are?"

In whatever case I had been left I could have made my fortune: for

what is it to make a fortune but to confer good things upon one's

self; and true good things are a worthy frame of mind, worthy

impulses, worthy actions.

END OF THE FIFTH BOOK.