1. All you desire to obtain by so many windings, you may have at once, if you don’t envy yourself [so great an happiness.] That is to say, if you quit the thoughts of what is past, and commit what is future to providence; and set yourself to regulate well your present conduct, according to the rules of holiness and justice. Of holiness, that you may embrace heartily what is appointed for you, since * nature hath produced it for you, and you for it. Of justice, that, with freedom, and without artifice or craft, you may speak the truth, and act according to † the law, and the merit of the matter. And, be not stopped in this course, by the wickedness of another, or his opinion or talk, or by any sensation of this poor carcase, which has grown up around you. Let that which suffers in such cases see to it. If, therefore, now that you are near your exit, you quit thought about other things, and honour only that governing and divine part within you, and dread not the ceasing to live, but the not commencing to live according to nature; you will become a man, worthy of that orderly universe which produced you, and will cease to be as a stranger in your own country; both astonished, with what happens every day, as if unexpected; and in anxious suspence about this and t’other thing.

2. God beholds all souls bare, and stripped of these corporeal vessels, bark, and filth. For, by his pure intellectual nature, he touches only what flowed out, and was derived from himself. If you would enure yourself to do the like, you would be free from much distraction and solicitude. For, can he, who looks not to the surrounding carcase, be much hurried about dress, houses, glory, or any such external furniture or accomodation?

3. You consist of three things, this poor flesh, the animal breath of life, and the intellectual part. To the two former, * some care is due, to a certain degree, as they are your’s. But the † third alone is properly your’s. Separate, therefore, from yourself, that is, from the intellectual part, all which others do and say; or what yourself have formerly done or said; and all those future events, about which you are disturbed; and all that may affect this encompassing carcase, or this animal life, which depends not on your power; and all these external events, which the eddy of fortune whirling around you, carries along; so that your intellectual power, kept disentangled from fate, pure and free, may live with itself; acting what is just; satisfied with what happens; and speaking truth: If, I say, you separate from the governing principle within you those things which are, as it were, appended to it by its vehement passions, and the times past and future, you make yourself like the firm World of Empedocles,

A sphere rejoicing ’midst the circling eddy.1

Be solicitous only to live well for the present; and you may go on till death, to spend what remains of life, with tranquillity, with true dignity, and complacence with the divinity within you.

4. I have often wondered how each man should love himself more than any other; and yet make less account of his own opinion concerning himself, than of the opinions of others. For, should God appear, or even any wise teacher, and enjoin one to entertain no thought or design, but what, as soon as formed, he would publish to others, no man could endure to do so, even for one day: Thus, we stand in greater awe of what those around shall think of us, than of what we think of our selves.

5. How is it, that ‡ the Gods, who have disposed all other things in such comely order, and with such goodness toward men; yet, have neglected this one point, to wit, the preventing that some of the very best of men, who have, as it were, lived with the Gods the great-est part of life, and, by a course of holy and religious services, been, as it were, familiar with the Divinity, should have no further existence after they die; but be intirely extinguished. If this be truly the case, be well assured, had it been proper that the case should have been otherwise, they would have made it so. Had it been just, it would have been practicable. Had it been according to nature, nature would have effected it. From its not being so, if really it is not so, you may be assured it ought not to have been. You see, that, in debating this point, you are pleading a point of justice with God. Now, we would not thus plead a matter of justice with the Gods, were they not perfectly good and just. And, if they are so, they have left nothing unjustly and unreasonably neglected in their administration.

6. Enure yourself to attempt, even, what you despair of executing. For, the left hand, which, for its inability, through want of exercise, remains idle in many sorts of work; yet, can hold the bridle more firmly than the other, by being enured to it.

7. Consider, in what state shall death find you, both as to body and soul? Observe the shortness of life; the vast immensity of the preceding, and ensuing duration; and the infirmity of all these materials.

8. To behold the active principle stripped of its bark; the references and intentions of actions; what pain is; what, pleasure; what, death; what, glory; who is to each one the cause of all his disturbance and trouble; how no man can be hindered by another; how all is opinion.

9. In the practising of the maxims, we should resemble the adventurers in the exercises; and not the gladiators. The gladiator, sometimes, lays by his sword, and takes it up again; but, the champion in the exercises carries always his arms and hands along with him. He needs nothing else for his work but to weild these skillfully.

10. Consider well the natures of things, dividing them into the material and active principles; and their references.

11. What a glorious power is granted to man! never to do any action, but such as God is to commend; and to embrace kindly, whatever God appoints for him.

12. As to what happens in the course of nature, the Gods are not to be blamed; They never do wrong, willingly or unwillingly. Nor are men; for they * don’t willingly. There are none, therefore, to be quarrelled with.

13. How ridiculous, and like a stranger is he, who is surprised at any thing which happens in life!

14. There is either a fatal necessity, and an unalterably fixed order; or a kind and benign providence; or a blind confusion, without a governour. If there be an unalterable necessity, why strive against it? If there is a kind providence, which can be appeased; make yourself worthy of the divine aids. If there is an ungoverned confusion; yet compose yourself with this, that, amidst these tempestuous waves, you have a presiding intelligence within yourself. If the wave surrounds you, it can carry along the carcase, and the animal life; but, the intellectual part it cannot bear along with it.

15. When a lamp continues to shine, and loses not its splendor, till it be extinguished; shall your veracity, justice, and temperance, be extinguished before you are?

16. When † you are struck with the apprehension, that one has done wrong; [say thus to yourself:] How are you sure this is wrong? Grant it to be wrong: You know not but he is deeply condemning himself: this is as pityable, as if he were tearing his own face. And then, one, who expects vicious men should not do wrong, is as absurd as one expecting a fig-tree should not produce the natural juice in the figs; or that infants should not cry; or a horse should not neigh; or such other necessary things. What can the man do, who has such dispositions? If you are a man of high abilities, cure them.

17. If not becoming, don’t do it. If not true, don’t say it. Let these be your fixed principles.

18. Consider always what it is, which strikes your imagination; and unfold it, by distinguishing the cause, the matter, the reference, and the time within which it must necessarily cease.

19. Won’t you, at last, perceive, that you have something more excellent and divine within you, than that which raises the several passions, and moves you, as the wires do a puppet,3 without your own approbation? What now is my intellectual part? * Is it fear? Is it suspicion? Is it lust? Is it any such thing?

20. First, let nothing be done at random, without a reference. Secondly, refer your actions to nothing else than some social kind purpose.

21. Yet a little, and you shall be no more; nor shall any of those things remain, which you now behold; nor any of those who are now living. ’Tis the nature of all things to change, to turn, and to corrupt; that others may, in their course, spring out of them.

22. All depends on your opinions: These are in your power. Remove, therefore, when you incline, your opinion; and then, as when one has turned the promontory, and got into a bay, all is calm; so, all shall become stable to you, and a still harbour.4

23.† Any one natural operation, ending at its proper time, suffers no ill by ceasing; nor does the agent suffer any ill, by its thus ceasing. In like manner, as to the whole series of actions, which is life; if it ends in its season, it suffers no ill by ceasing; nor is the person, who thus finishes his series, in any bad state. The season and the term is limited by nature; sometimes even by your own, as in old age; but, always by the nature of the whole. ’Tis by the changes of its several parts, that the universe still remains new, and in its bloom. Now, that is always good and seasonable, which is advantageous to the whole. The ceasing of life cannot be evil to individuals; for, it has no turpitude in it; since it is not in our power; nor is there any thing unsociable in it. Nay, ’tis good; since ’tis seasonable to the whole, and advantageous, and concurring with the order of the whole. Thus, too, is he led by God, who goes the same way with God, and that by his own inclination.

24. Have these three thoughts always at hand: first, that you do nothing inconsiderately; nor otherwise than justice herself would have acted. As for external events, they either happen by chance, or by providence: now, no man should quarrel with chance, nor censure providence. The second, to examine what each thing is, from its seed, to its being quickened; and, from its quickening, till its death; of what materials composed, and into what it must be resolved. The third, that, could you be raised on high, so as from thence to behold all human affairs, and discern their great variety; conscious, at the same time, of the crouds of aerial and etherial inhabitants who surround us: Were you thus raised on high, never so often, you would see only the same things, or things exactly uniform; all of short duration. Can we be proud of such matters?

25. Cast out your opinions; you are safe. Who, then, hinders you to cast them out?

26. When you fret at any thing, you have forgot that all happens according to the nature of the whole; and that the fault subsists not in you, but in another. And this, too, you forget, that, whatever now happens, has happened, and will happen; and the like now happens every where. And this, also; how great the bond of kindred is, between any man, and all the human race; not by common seed or blood, but a common intellectual part. You forget, too, that the * soul of each man is divine, an efflux from God; and this, also, that no man is proprietor of any thing: His dear children, his very body, and his life, proceeded from the same God. And this, too, that opinion is all. And this, that † it is the present moment only, which one lives, or can lose.

27. Recollect frequently those, who, formerly, were transported with indignation; those, who, once, proceeded to the highest pitch in glory, or in calamities, or in enmities, or any other circumstance of fortune. Then stop, and ask, where are they all now? Smoke, and ashes, and an old tale; or, perhaps, not even a tale. Let every such instance occur. ‡ Fabius Catullinus in the country; Lucius Lupus, and Stertinius at Baiae: Tiberius at Capreae; and Velius Rufus;5 and, in general, all eminence attended with the high opinions of men. And, how mean are all the objects of our keen pursuits! How much more becomes it a philosopher, to shew himself, in the matters subjected to his management, a man of justice and temperance, following the Gods, and that with * simplicity. For, the most intolerable pride is that displayed in an ostentation of humility, and contempt of pride.

28. To those who ask, “Where have you seen these Gods? or, whence are you assured they exist, that you thus worship them?” First, † they are visible, even to the eye: Again, my own soul I cannot see; and, yet, I reverence it; and thus, too, as I experience continually the power of the Gods, I both know surely that they are, and worship them.

29. The safety of life depends on this; to discern each object, what it is in whole, of what materials, what its form or cause; to do justice with all our heart; and, to speak truth. And, what further remains, but to enjoy life, adding one virtuous office to another; so as not to leave any vacant interval?

30. There is but one light of the sun, tho’ divided by walls, mountains, and other objects. There is but one common substance, tho’ divided among ten thousand bodies, with peculiar qualities. There is but one animal soul, tho’ divided by ten thousand natures, with their peculiar limitations; and ‡ one intellectual spirit, altho’ it appears to be divided. The other parts of these mentioned wholes, such as the forms and matter, being void of sense, are void of affection to each other: And, yet, ’tis an intellectual being that preserves them, and a force of gravity, which makes them tend to the same place. But, what is intellectual has a peculiar tendency to its kind, and is naturally recommended to it. And the social affection cannot be entirely repressed.

31. What do you desire? merely to be? or also to have sensation, and appetite? To grow, and to decay again; to speak, to think: Are any of these wor-thy of your desire? If all these are despicable; go on to the last that remains, to follow reason and God. Now, it is opposite to the reverence due to them, if we repine that we must be deprived of all the former enjoyments by death.

32. How small a part is appointed to each one of the infinite immense duration? For, presently, it must vanish into eternity: How small a part of the universal matter? And, how small, of the universal spirit? On how narrow a clod of this earth do you creep? When all these things are considered, nothing will appear great, except acting as your nature leads; and bearing contentedly whatever the common nature brings along with it.

33. What use does the governing part make of itself? On this, all depends. Other things, whether dependent on your choice, or not, are but dead carcases, and smoke.

34. This must rouse you most powerfully to despise death, that, even * those who deemed pleasure the sole good, and pain the sole evil, yet despised it.

35. To the person who reputes that alone to be good, which is † seasonable, and reckons it indifferent, whether he has opportunity of exerting a greater number of actions, according to right reason, or a smaller: whether he beholds this universe for a longer or a shorter space, death cannot appear terrible.

36. You have lived, O man, as a denizen of ‡ this great state: Of what consequence to you, whether it be only for five years? What is according to the laws, is equal and just to all. What is there terrible in this, that you are sent out, not by a tyrant, or an unjust judge, but by that nature, which at first introduced you? As if * the praetor who employed the player, should dismiss him again from the scene. But, say you, I have not finished the five acts, but only three. You say true; but, in life, † three acts make a complete play. For, ’tis he who appoints the end to it, who, as he was the cause of the composition, is now the cause of the dissolution. Neither of them are chargeable on you: Depart, therefore, contented, and in good humour; for, he is propitious and kind, who dismisses you.

FINIS.

[* ] That is the providence of the author of nature.

[† ] X. 11. 25.

[* ] X. 2.

[† ] See B. II. 13. B. V. 19.

[‡ ] This is plainly the objection of some others, not the author’s own settled opinion against a future state. It was customary among the best philosophers, in imitation of Socrates, to speak upon this subject with such alternatives, even when they were persuaded that there would be a future existence. They thought this highly probable; and yet, as they had not full certainty, they suggested proper supports and consolations even upon the contrary supposition, and endeavoured to give strong motives to virtue independent upon future rewards. But we wrong them exceedingly, if we imagine that they were doubtful of such points as they often propose in such alternatives. See B. II. 11. and IV. 27. and B. XII. 14.2 Where even the doctrine of a Deity and providence is proposed with such alternatives, tho’ all know how firmly the Stoics were persuaded of both. Instances of this kind occur in every book of our author.

[* ] B. II. 1.

[† ] See IX. 38. and XI. 18, at the 5th precept.

[* ] IX. 39, at the end.

[† ] IX. 21.

[* ] See B. II. 1, and 13.

[† ] See B. II. 14.

[‡ ] Some of the persons here named as eminent, or singular in their fortunes, are not well known.

[* ] ’Tis plain from the reason subjoined, what this simplicity is, viz. A single view to act well the part apointed us by God, without aiming at glory, or any selfish advantage, or pleasure; but from love to God and moral goodness. This simplicity is opposite to the more subtile and refined sorts of selfishness.6

[† ] This may relate to the heavenly bodies whom the Stoics deemed inferior deities.

[‡ ] It is manifest he does not here intend proper numerical unity, but only specifical, or similitude: And this further, perhaps, that all individual natures are parts taken from some great mass, or whole of that kind. Nor can we conclude from their speaking of the re-union after death, that individuals cease to be distinct persons from the Deity and from each other; since it was the known tenet of the Stoics, that heroic souls were raised to the dignity of Gods, or immortal angels; and they mean no more than an entire moral union by resignation and complete conformity of will. Some degree of this union is attainable in this life, and strongly recommended by the Stoics: See B. VIII. 34. Such expressions are frequent in the New Testament.

[* ] Epicurus.

[† ] The peculiar meaning of this seasonableness is best explained in Cicero de finib. l. III. c. 14.7

[‡ ] The universe.

[* ] The great magistrates at their own charge exhibited shows to the people, and among others gave plays, and for this purpose employed the actors.

[† ] See above, B. XI. 1.

[* ] These errata to the 1742 edition have been incorporated into the Liberty Fund text— Eds.

[* ] Tho’ the Stoics have not used the term Love, for expressing our pious affections to God; yet, ’tis plain, they meant all that can be implied in that word, as used since with regard to the Deity. They seem to have abstained from this term, out of reverence: Φιλειν, and Φιλια, with them, carry a notion of equality.