{
\"code\": 200,
\"title\": \"\",
\"content\": \"要自己挺起腰桿，不要被迫挺直身軀\\n\\n1.什麼是罪惡？其實，它常常發生在你的生活中。無論你的身邊發生了什麼，你一定要銘記這一點。無論你身在何處，你總是會發現同樣的事情，這些事遠古時期曾經發生過，中世紀曾經發生過，在我們如今的生活中仍然會發生，而在我們居住著的城市和屋簷下也正在發生著、曾經發生過。這些事絕不是我們生活的這個時代纔出現的：這一切都是為人們所熟知，但是無法長久存在的。\\n\\n2.我們怎麼能喪失自己的原則？除非我們與之一致的想法（或思想）也熄滅了。但是，我們是有能力讓星星之火般的思想逐漸發展成“燎原”的態勢的。無論是什麼事情，我都可以抱有我理應有的主張。如果我能堅持自己的主張，那麼我還有什麼理由會焦慮不安呢？那些不屬於自己主張的觀點就與我毫無關係。讓這句話表達出你的感情吧，你會比任何時候都更加昂首挺胸的。而你同樣有能力找回你曾經擁有的幸福生活。再看一看塵封已久的往事，就像你曾經那樣地看待它們，因為這樣你纔會找回你失落的幸福。\\n\\n3.舞台上正在進行著無聊的表演，綿羊和獸類成群結對，有人玩著耍刀槍的把戲，有人扔了根骨頭給小狗們，還有人向魚塘裡投了點麪包屑，辛勤勞作的螞蟻群搬運著糧食，受驚了的小老鼠們四處逃竄，小人物被韁繩拉扯著——諸如此類的無聊演出。因此你的責任便是在這樣的無聊表演中表現出睿智的幽默而不是一種盛氣淩人的高傲；無論如何都要記住一點，那就是每一個人的存在都是有價值的，就和他在從事的事業那樣有價值一樣。\\n\\n4.在與人交流時，你一定要注意聆聽，一舉一動間你一定要仔細觀察對方在做些什麼。對於交流中具體的某句話，你不會馬上就意識到對方說這句話的目的是什麼，而在下一輪的對話中你通過仔細的觀察後纔會明白其中的真意。\\n\\n5.我的才乾是否能勝任這項工作呢？如果我有足夠的才乾，那麼我就能在工作中如魚得水了。但是倘若我並不具備這樣豐富的才能，那我要麼就放棄這項工作，要麼推薦一位勝任的人選來完成這項工作，除非我有不應該這麼做的理由；或者我儘全力做好這項工作，同時找個人幫忙，此人一方麵要遵從我的辦事原則，一方麵也要能做出此時此刻對彼此恰當而且有用的事情來。不管是我獨自完成工作還是在彆人的配合下完成，都應該遵從這一條唯一的標準，也就是要做對社會友善而且有用的事。\\n\\n6.有多少曾經聲名顯赫的人卻最終被人們遺忘了，又有多少為彆人歌功頌德的人也已經與世長辭了。\\n\\n7.不要因為接受了彆人的幫助而覺得羞恥，因為你總是要履行自己的職責，就好像士兵要執行攻打城池的任務一樣。如果你的腿跛了，你就不能在戰場上單槍匹馬地與敵人戰鬥，那麼，要是有了彆人的幫助，你是不是就可能重回戰場了呢？\\n\\n8.不要讓未來未知的事打攪你現在的生活，因為如果還冇到時間，你就不會遇到這些事。與此類似的，你也大可不必為了往事而心煩意亂。\\n\\n9.萬物之間是相互關聯的，而聯絡的紐帶是神聖不可侵犯的；幾乎冇有一個事物是不與其他事物相關聯而獨立存在的。因為萬物之間是彼此協調的關係，他們聯合在一起，形成了宇宙（秩序）。因為宇宙就是由萬物組成的，萬物共享著一位保佑著它們的神靈，一個要旨，一個法則，所有有智慧的動物共享著共通的理性和同樣的真理；如果所有擁有相同理性的同祖宗動物真都是根據理論進化的話。\\n\\n10.一切物質很快就會消失在整體中，一切形式化的事物（有因果關係的一切）也會很快就迴歸宇宙理性中，一切的記憶同樣會很快就被遺忘在曆史長河中。\\n\\n11.對於理性動物而言，行動是根據天性還是根據理性是冇有差彆的。\\n\\n12.要麼你就自己挺起腰桿，要麼彆人迫使你挺直身軀。\\n\\n13.就像物體中的各個不同的成分是一個統一的整體，那些各自生存的理性動物也同樣是一個統一的整體，因為它們彼此合作。而隻要你經常對自己說“我是理性動物係統整體的一個組成部分”，你就更能認識到這一點。但是如果（用字母R）你說你並不是整體的一部分，那你就不會發自心底地熱愛整個人類；你還冇有從行善中獲得真正的快樂。你仍然僅僅是將行善作為一種權宜的事來做，而冇有意識到積德行善其實也是為你自己。\\n\\n14.讓物體掉落在你的身體可以感受到的部位上吧。因為那些可以感受到的部位纔會抱怨，如果它們願意的話。但是除非我認為物體掉落在身上是件倒黴的事，否則我就不會覺得受傷。而我也要有能力讓自己不要覺得自己因為被掉落的物體砸中而受傷了。\\n\\n15.無論彆人做了或是說了些什麼，我還是要對他友善，就好像金子，或是綠寶石，或是紫棠，總是在說：無論彆人做什麼還是說什麼，我總還是綠寶石，我要保持我的本色。\\n\\n16.感官本身不會“庸人自擾”，我是說，不會嚇唬自己，也不會讓自己受到傷害。但是如果彆人可能嚇唬它或者讓它受傷，那就隨他去吧。因為感官本身不會讓自己遭受恐懼或是傷害。讓身體的各個部位自己照顧自己，如果它可以的話，也就是不再遭遇傷痛，如果它遭受了，就讓它自己說出來。不過靈魂本身就是遭遇恐懼、痛苦的主體，靈魂完全有能力形成遭遇傷害之後的看法，它本身本不會遭遇傷害，因為靈魂不會偏離認知的方向。靈魂的主要原則是無慾無求，除非它自身有需求的願望；因此靈魂既是悠然自得的又是不受阻礙的，隻要靈魂自己不使自己煩惱或者自己為自己設立阻礙。\\n\\n17.幸福是一位慈祥的守護神，或者是一件好事。那你正在這兒忙些什麼呢？隻是在憑空想象嗎？當你來找我時，我以神的名義請求你離開吧，因為我不想讓你隻是一味胡思亂想。但是，你隻是遵從古老的傳統來拜見我的。我不會生你的氣，隻是要讓你離開。\\n\\n18．有人害怕改變嗎？為什麼萬事都有變呢？到底什麼纔是對於宇宙本質最合適的呢？柴火不發生一些變化，難道你還能洗澡嗎？食物不發生一些變化，難道你能得到足夠的營養嗎？如果冇有變化，難道有其他什麼有用的事是可以完成的嗎？那麼你難道還不明白你也一樣需要一些改變，就好像宇宙萬物的本質一樣？\\n\\n19．要瞭解宇宙萬物，就要將萬物聯絡在一起，和整體一起彼此協調地全麵瞭解，這就好比要趟過湍急的河流，要調動身體的每一個部位，讓動作協調一樣。有多少克裡西普（Chrysippus）,有多少蘇格拉底，有多少艾皮科特圖斯（Epictetus），已經淹冇在曆史長河中？你要參照他們中的每個人和每一個曆史事件做出同樣的思考。\\n\\n20.隻有一件事讓我感到困擾，那就是唯恐自己要做人類體質無法負擔的事，或半途中體力突然不能繼續支撐了，或是此時此刻無法再支撐我們完成工作了。\\n\\n21.你就快要遺忘一切往事了，而往事也快要把你徹底遺忘了。\\n\\n善待那些做錯事的人\\n\\n22.人甚至愛那些做了錯事的人，這一點很奇怪。可是當他們做錯事的時候，你首先想到的是他們是你的親人，他們做錯事是因為無知而且也並非刻意，而且無論是你還是他們總是不久就要死去的，因此你仍然愛他們；而最重要的是，這些做了錯事的人並冇有傷害到你，因為他並冇有傷害你的感情。\\n\\n23.宇宙萬物外的宇宙本質，就如用來製作一匹駿馬的蠟一樣，當把這匹蠟質的駿馬融化掉，再製作成一棵樹，再融化掉製作出一個人的形狀來，然後再融化掉製作出其他形狀的物體來。每一個製作出來的物體隻能存在很短的一段時間。但是融化其中的每一個物體都不是什麼難事，就和當初製作出它時一樣的簡單。\\n\\n24．一副怒氣沖沖的模樣總是顯得不那麼自然。要是你總是怒髮衝冠的樣子，你漂亮的臉蛋就不再光芒四射了，到最後你就會變得臉色枯黃，即使再冇有生氣。試著從這個假設中得出這樣一個結論：總是怒氣沖沖的是不理智的行為。因為如果連做錯事都不願意承認的話，那還有什麼理由想要永葆青春、長命百歲呢？\\n\\n25．統管著萬物的大自然很快就會改變你看到的萬物，從萬物的本體中創造出新的事物，然後不久這些新事物又要被更新的事物取代了，這樣我們的世界才永遠是全新的。\\n\\n26．倘若有人傷害了你，你馬上就會想他傷害你的本意究竟是好還是壞？因為當你明白了他的本意之後，你就會同情起他來，你就絕不會再有任何的困惑或是對他的行為感到憤怒了，因為你自己明白或者你要是做了和他相同的事，本意一定是好的，或者你做了和他所作的相類似的事，你也絕不是心懷惡意的。因此就原諒他吧，這是你應該做到的。但如果你並不認為這些事有好意還是惡意之分的話，你就更願意善待那些做了錯事的人了。\\n\\n27．不要老是惦記著那些你無法得到的東西，多想一想你已經擁有的：你要多想這些都是你自己千挑萬選出的東西，假設一下你要是還冇有擁有這些，你該會怎樣迫切地得到它們。同時也要多想想，你要不是太喜歡這些東西，就不會把它們看得如此重要了，也不會在你還冇有得到它們的時候，那麼的焦慮不安了。\\n\\n28．迴歸本我。占統治地位的理性原則總有它自身的本性，也就是滿足於自我，隻要它是做了公正的判斷，這樣理性才能維持心靈的寧靜。\\n\\n29.不要白日做夢了。不要再因為這白日夢為難自己了。隨遇而安吧。你要很清楚地明白一點：要麼是你要麼就是彆人，總要有人要遇到某些事的。人群中每個人都處於因果迴圈（形式化的）還有物質迴圈之中的。想想最後的結果。就讓做錯了的事停留在當時吧，不要再為此煩惱了。\\n\\n30.要學會聆聽。理解所做的事和做事主體的實質而不僅僅是表麵。\\n\\n31.要為人樸實而謙遜。除了美德和陋習，你要對所有的事保持淡然的態度。熱愛人類。信仰上帝。詩人們常說，是萬物皆有法則——隻要記住這一點就已足夠了。\\n\\n32.關於死亡：無論死亡是**的消逝，還是分解了看不見的微粒，或是徹底的毀滅，或者是生命之火的熄滅，或者就是生命狀態的一種改變。\\n\\n33.關於痛苦：不可忍受的痛苦奪去了我們的生命；而那持續時間較長的痛苦其實是可以忍受的；心靈為了維持那一片寧靜，必須要迴歸本我，而感官的感受不會變得更痛苦。但是被痛苦蹂躪的身體部位，如果可以的話，就讓它們自己對承受的痛苦表達看法吧。\\n\\n34.關於聲望：看看那些一心求名的人們的內心世界，觀察觀察他們究竟是怎樣的人們，還有他們竭力避開的和一味追求的分彆是哪些事物。你想一想，就好像堆沙子一樣，後堆上去的沙子總會覆蓋之前的沙子，所以生活中，過去的事很快就被後來的事淹冇。\\n\\n35.柏拉圖曾經這樣說過：對於一個擁有著高尚人格、縱觀全域性的人，你認為他會覺得人類的生命有多麼偉大嗎？不會的，柏拉圖回答。——這樣的人隻會想死亡也不是罪惡的——當然不是的。\\n\\n36.安提斯坦尼斯（Antisthenes）曾經說過：皇室總是行善事卻要留惡名的。\\n\\n37．最基本的一點是要表麵上溫順，而當心靈引領我們時就要服從心靈的指引。對心靈來說，不要由自身作調整也是最基本的。\\n\\n38.因為外界環境而苦惱是不對的，因為外界與你毫無關係。\\n\\n39.麵對不朽的神靈還有我們自己，我們將會收穫快樂。\\n\\n40.我們必定像收穫成熟的稻穀一樣收穫生命：有人來到這個世界，就必定要有人離開。\\n\\n41.如果神靈不保佑我和我的孩子們，一定要知道這一定是有它的理由的。\\n\\n42.隻要行善事，必定會得到公正的回報。\\n\\n43.不要跟著彆人一起哭泣，不要發泄自己的情緒。\\n\\n44.柏拉圖曾說，可我要給這人一個令他信服的答案，這就是：你說的不好，如果你認為那個萬能的人應該能算出人生命中所遭受的劫難或是死亡的時間，以及不應該隻從他的所作所為中看看他是不是為人厚道，是為好人還是壞人工作。\\n\\n45.因此，希臘的子民們，這就是一個真理：無論一個人所處的地位如何，都要認為這於他是合適的，或認為是被一個主宰者安排的，我認為在他改變自己的地位之前，他應該安於現狀，勇敢地承受苦難，不要胡思亂想，不管是死亡還是其他什麼事情。\\n\\n46.不過，我親愛的朋友，不妨考慮一下，那些好的高尚的事物是不是與拯救和不拯救不相關呢？因為對於如此高尚地活著的人或是社會風氣淳樸的一個時代來說，隻要是真正的人，都至少會思索這是否不是脫離思想以外的一件事呢：一定不再熱愛生命。但至於這些事，一個男人一定把這些事托付給女人們，他相信女人們所說的話，冇有男人可以逃脫這樣的命運，下一次就要向女人們詢問他如何才能在有生之年創造出最大的生命價值來。\\n\\n47．抬頭望一望星星執行的軌跡，就好像你和它們一起在天空中移動一樣；經常想想物質成分的改變，因為常常這麼想就會滌儘塵世的汙穢。\\n\\n48．柏拉圖曾經說過這樣一句精彩名言：總是談論他人的人也應該舉目望一望這個紅塵滾滾的世界，好像他是從一個更高的角度俯瞰他們一樣；他也應該看看塵世裡熙攘的人群、軍事、農業勞作、婚姻、協議條款、生與死、公正的法庭上的嘈雜之聲、不毛之地、許許多多的蠻荒民族、宗教慶典、悲傷、集市，一切都混雜在一起，陰陽調和。\\n\\n49．回憶過往，政權幾經更替。也許你還能預知未來。因為要發生的事和過去已經發生過的總是差不太多的，不可能偏離原本的軌道：觀察四十年的人類生活和人類一萬年的生活，兩者時間跨度不一樣，可並冇有發生大的變化。那你還能看到些什麼呢？\\n\\n50．從大地生長出的東西最終還是要迴歸大地，而來自天堂的種子孕育出的果實總還是要回到天堂。這或許是微粒之間的迴圈過程，又或許是一種微觀元素類似的消失的過程。\\n\\n51.隨身攜帶著食物和飲品，心裡揣著狡猾的伎倆\\n\\n妄想改變生命的終點逃脫死亡。\\n\\n從天堂吹來的微風\\n\\n我們必然要忍受，還要無怨無悔地辛苦工作。\\n\\n52．也許有人比你更善於戰勝對手，但是這並不代表他更有交際手腕或是為人更為謙遜，也不代表他受到了更好的訓導，能對所有的事情都應付自如，更不代表他更能體諒鄰居們所犯的過錯。\\n\\n53.在那些所有的工作都能以符合神靈和人類共有的理性的方式完成的地方，我們無所畏懼：因為在那些我們得以通過各種成功的手段謀取利益，並能按照我們原先製定的計劃順利進行的地方，我們不用擔心會受到侵害。\\n\\n54.我們在何時何地都能真誠地順從所處的環境，公正地對待我們身邊的人；我們也能有技巧地思考，拒絕那些冇有經過深思熟慮的思想就潛進自己的思想體係中去。\\n\\n55．不要盲目找尋彆人的主要原則，應該關注的是大自然指引你發現的：既有在你的境遇中體現出的宇宙萬物的本質，又有你在平常的所作所為中表現出的自己的天性。但是，每一個存在體都應該根據自身的結構素質有所作為；其他所有的事物正是由於理性存在體的緣故而組成且存在的，正如在一切非理性存在體中，低階存在都是因為高階存在的緣故，而理性存在體中，彼此都是由於對方的存在而存在的。\\n\\n那麼人類組成結構的主要原則就是社會性。其次是不屈服於身體的誘導，因為身體正是由於理性明智的行為限定了它自己，永遠都不要沉溺於感官的享受或是**的衝動中，因為這兩者都是洪水猛獸；明智纔是最優的選擇，因為明智的理性存在體絕不會允許自己被彆的事物擊垮。此外，還要擁有健全的理性，因為存在體生來就是要運用這所有的理性。再其次，就是要遠離過失和欺騙。最後，要牢牢把握這主要的原則，繼續前進，這樣就會收穫本屬於自己的成果。\\n\\n擁抱你自己的生活吧\\n\\n56.要懂得人必有一死，也許不久生命就要終結，那麼就在餘生中，隨心所欲地生活吧。\\n\\n57．就去擁抱你自己的生活吧，就去熱愛用你自己的命運紡線編織成的生命吧，因為還有什麼更值得你去熱愛呢？\\n\\n58．麵對發生在你身上的所有事情之時，不妨想一想那些一樣經曆過這些事的人們，當時的他們是多麼苦惱啊，他們對遇到的這些事手足無措，他們認為這些都是不應該發生的事那如今這些人又去了哪裡呢？到處也找不到他們的身影。那麼為什麼你還要選擇要以和他們一樣的態度去麵對這些事呢？為什麼你還要在意那些與你的本質不相乾的引誘煽動呢？把這些引誘都給那些製造它們和那些經不住誘惑的人們吧。為什麼不下決心以正確的方式利用你的這些經曆呢？你能很好地利用它們，因為這些經曆為你提供了很好的素材。僅需關注你自己，決心要成為一個有用的人，併爲此付出努力。一定要銘記……\\n\\n59.洞悉心靈。心靈是所有善的源泉，隻要你潛心挖掘，善就在你身邊。\\n\\n60．應該強健體質。無論是行為還是態度都不可冇有規律。因為內心的感受必須要以明智妥當的方式表現出來，而整個身體也需要以同樣的方式表達它的感受。但所有的表達都不得矯揉造作。\\n\\n61.生活的藝術與其說是舞者的藝術，不若說是摔跤手的技藝，要站得穩，勇敢地迎接打擊,即使這種打擊是突如其來的。\\n\\n62．如果你想要得到某人的認可，那你就仔細觀察那人的一舉一動，觀察他們的原則。因為如果你留意到他們是怎樣形成自己獨特看法和品味的，你就既不會責備那些無心冒犯你的人，也不會再想得到他們的認可了。\\n\\n63．哲人們說，每一個靈魂都會不知不覺地遠離了真理，每個靈魂最終都會以相同的方式遠離公正、節製、仁愛以及其他一切善的品質。將這一點銘記於心是很有必要的，因為這樣你纔會更友善地對待他人。\\n\\n64．每一次在遭遇痛苦的時候，都要銘記住一點，那就是遭受痛苦並不是什麼恥辱，也不會折損你的智慧，因為智慧是理性的也是社會性的，痛苦無從損害它。在遭遇極大的痛苦時，可以讓伊壁鳩魯（Epicurus）的這句話激勵你：痛苦既不是不可忍受的也不是無休止的，隻要你記住痛苦是有終點的，隻要你不添油加醋地肆意擴大你的痛苦：也要銘記這一點，我們不要把那些不合我們意的事物也視為痛苦，比如嗜睡，比如被炎熱炙烤，比如冇有食慾。當你對這些事感到不滿就告訴你自己，痛苦已經在支配你了。\\n\\n65.當心，對那些冷漠無情的人，不要采取和他們一樣冷漠的待人方式。\\n\\n66．我們如何知道格勞修斯（Telauges）在品格上不如蘇格拉底呢？因為蘇格拉底僅僅因其更高尚的離去、更高妙的雄辯術，更能忍受黑夜的寒冷是不能證明他在品質上超越了格勞修斯的。當他受命不得不去逮捕薩拉米斯的裡昂（Leon of Salamis）時，他認為拒絕是更高尚的做法，故此他昂首闊步地行走在街道上時——儘管有人可能深表懷疑此事的真實性。但是我們理應詢問，蘇格拉底究竟擁有怎樣的靈魂，假如他能隻是滿足於公正地對待他人還有虔誠地信奉神靈，既不因人類的罪惡而感到苦惱，也不屈服於任何人的愚昧無知，同時不將天地指派給他的職責視為奇怪的責任，也不把天降於斯的苦難視為是無法忍受的，也不允許自己的理性同情可悲的**所產生的情感。\\n\\n67.大自然並未將智慧混雜於身體的構成之中，並冇有賜予你限定自己的能量，也未賜予你征服你所擁有的一切的力量；因為你既很有可能成為一個偉人，也很有可能成為偉人後卻得不到他人的認可。不僅要將這一點牢牢記在心裡，還要銘記另一點：即使是再微不足道的細節，它對你的幸福生活來說也是十分必要的。因為如若你已不可能成為一位雄辨家或是已不可能對大自然的知識瞭若指掌，那麼你也不要因此而放棄成為一個自由、謙遜、善於交際以及順從上帝旨意的人的希望。\\n\\n68.人類是有能力遠離衝動的，隻要心中擁有一片寧靜，即使全世界都竭力叫囂著反對你，即使野獸將你的皮囊撕成碎片。因為這些都妨礙了心靈寧靜，妨礙了心靈對周圍事物做出公正的判斷，妨礙了心靈很好地利用內心世界的產物，以至於在觀察後會做出這樣的判斷：你是物質的存在（真正的存在），隻是在彆人眼中，你也許是個異類而在獲得內心世界的產物後，會這樣對它說：你就是我一直在尋找的，因為對我而言，那些自發顯露出來的總是理性，並且帶有政治色彩的道德素材，一言以蔽之，它們是隻屬於人類和上帝的技藝的操練。因為無論發生了什麼，要麼和上帝有關，要麼就與人類有關，這些發生了的事並不是陌生的而是司空見慣了的，也絕不是難以處理的而是能夠應付自如的。\\n\\n69．完美的道德品質是這樣的：把每一天都當作是生命的最後一天充實地度過，既不極端亢奮，也不懶散無力，更不要虛偽狡詐。\\n\\n70．永生不朽的神靈從不會庸人自擾，因為他們在漫長的時間中必須要不斷容忍人類的行為，雖然人類行為往往是如此的罪惡；不僅如此，神靈們卻還要在各個方麵照顧人類。而你，註定難逃一死，可你是不是已經厭煩了容忍惡行，而當你也做了壞事，是不是也無法容忍自己呢？\\n\\n71.人假若無法擺脫潛藏在自身的罪惡，那真是荒誕之極，因為於自己，放下屠刀立地成佛是可能的，而妄想擺脫彆人的罪惡卻是不可能辦到的。\\n\\n72.理性和政治方麵（社會性的）的才能若被證實是非理性或是非社會性的，那麼就能做出這樣正確的判斷：這種才能是低劣的。\\n\\n73．當你做了善事，而彆人也接受了你的好意，那你為什麼還要像傻瓜似的要得到更多呢？是想要得到行善的好名聲，還是想要謀求彆人的回報？\\n\\n74．不會有人已經厭倦了得到更多有用的東西。不過，不違背本性也是很有用的。為此,就不要厭倦為他人多做有用的事，這樣才能得到更多有用的東西。\\n\\n75．蘊含著萬物的自然界不斷改變，於是創造出了宇宙。但現在一切事物要麼作為結果發生，要麼就連續不斷地發生，甚至就連宇宙間最強大的力量統治著的最重要的事物也不再遵從理性原則了。如果能記住這一點，那麼你在麵對許多事時便能更為鎮定了。\\n\\n1. What is badness? It is that which thou hast often seen. And on the occasion of everything which happens keep this in mind, that it is that which thou hast often seen. Everywhere up and down thou wilt find the same things, with which the old histories are filled, those of the middle ages and those of our own day; with which cities and houses are filled now. There is nothing new; all things are both familiar and short-lived.\\n\\n2. How can our principles become dead, unless the impressions [thoughts] which correspond to them are extinguished? But it is in thy power continuously to fan these thoughts into a flame. I can have that opinion about anything, which I ought to have. If I can, why am I disturbed? The things which are external to my mind have no relation at all to my mind. Let this be the state of thy affects, and thou standest erect. To recover thy life is in thy power. Look at things again as thou didst use to look at them; for in this consists the recovery of thy life.\\n\\n3. The idle business of show, plays on the stage, flocks of sheep, herds, exercises with spears, a bone to cast to little dogs, a bit of bread into fish-ponds, labourings of ants and burden-carrying, runnings about of frightened little mice, puppets pulled by strings—[all alike]. It is thy duty then in the midst of such things to show good humour and not a proud air; to understand, however, that every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself.\\n\\n4. In discourse thou must attend to what is said, and in every movement thou must observe what is doing. And in the one thou shouldst see immediately to what end it refers, but in the other watch carefully what is the thing signified.\\n\\n5. Is my understanding sufficient for this or not? If it is sufficient I use it for the work as an instrument given by the universal nature. But if it is not sufficient, then either I retire from the work and give way to him who is able to do it better, unless there be some reason why I ought not to do so; or I do it as well as I can, taking to help me the man who with the aid of my ruling principle can do what is now fit and useful for the general good. For whatsoever either by myself or with another I can do, ought to be directed to this only, to that which is useful and well suited to society.\\n\\n6. How many after being celebrated by fame have been given up to oblivion; and how many who have celebrated the fame of others have long been dead.\\n\\n7. Be not ashamed to be helped; for it is thy business to do thy duty like a soldier in the assault on a town. How then, if being lame thou canst not mount up on the battlements alone, but with the help of another it is possible?\\n\\n8. Let not future things disturb thee, for thou wilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, having with thee the same reason which now thou usest for present things.\\n\\n9. All things are implicated with one another, and the bond is holy; and there is hardly anything unconnected with any other thing. For things have been co-ordinated, and they combine to form the same universe [order]. For there is one universe made up of all things, and one god who pervades all things, and one substance, and one law, [one] common reason in all intelligent animals, and one truth; if indeed there is also one perfection for all animals which are of the same stock and participate in the same reason.\\n\\n10. Everything material soon disappears in the substance of the whole; and everything formal [causal] is very soon taken back into the universal reason; and the memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.\\n\\n11. To the rational animal the same act is according to nature and according to reason.\\n\\n12. Be thou erect, or be made erect (iii. 5).\\n\\n13. Just as it is with the members in those bodies which are united in one, so it is with rational beings which exist separate, for they have been constituted for one co-operation. And the perception of this will be more apparent to thee, if thou often sayest to thyself that I am a member [Greek] of the system of rational beings. But if [using the letter r] thou sayest that thou art a part [Greek], thou dost not yet love men from thy heart; beneficence does not yet delight thee for its own sake; thou still doest it barely as a thing of propriety, and not yet as doing good to thyself.\\n\\n14. Let there fall externally what will on the parts which can feel the effects of this fall. For those parts which have felt will complain, if they choose. But I, unless I think that what has happened is an evil, am not injured. And it is in my power not to think so.\\n\\n15. Whatever any one does or says, I must be good, just as if the gold, or the emerald, or the purple were always saying this: Whatever any one does or says, I must be emerald and keep my colour.\\n\\n16. The ruling faculty does not disturb itself; I mean, does not frighten itself or cause itself pain. But if any one else can frighten or pain it, let him do so. For the faculty itself will not by its own opinion turn into such ways. Let the body itself take care, if it can, that it suffer nothing, and let it speak, if it suffers. But the soul itself, that which is subject to fear, to pain, which has completely the power of forming an opinion about these things, will suffer nothing, for it will never deviate into such a judgment. The leading principle in itself wants nothing, unless it makes a want for itself; and therefore it is both free from perturbation and unimpeded, if it does not disturb and impede itself.\\n\\n17. Eud？monia [happiness] is a good daemon, or a good thing. What then art thou doing here, O imagination? go away, I entreat thee by the gods, as thou didst come, for I want thee not. But thou art come according to thy old fashion. I am not angry with thee: only go away.\\n\\n18. Is any man afraid of change? Why, what can take place without change? What then is more pleasing or more suitable to the universal nature? And canst thou take a bath unless the wood undergoes a change? And canst thou be nourished unless the food undergoes a change? And can anything else that is useful be accomplished without change? Dost thou not see then that for thyself also to change is just the same, and equally necessary for the universal nature?\\n\\n19. Through the universal substance as through a furious torrent all bodies are carried, being by their nature united with and cooperating with the whole, as the parts of our body with one another. How many a Chrysippus, how many a Socrates, how many an Epictetus has time already swallowed up? And let the same thought occur to thee with reference to every man and thing (v. 23; vi. 15).\\n\\n20. One thing only troubles me, lest I should do something which the constitution of man does not allow, or in the way which it does not allow, or what it does not allow now.\\n\\n21. Near is thy forgetfulness of all things; and near the forgetfulness of thee by all.\\n\\n22. It is peculiar to man to love even those who do wrong. And this happens, if when they do wrong it occurs to thee that they are kinsmen, and that they do wrong through ignorance and unintentionally, and that soon both of you will die; and above all, that the wrong-doer has done thee no harm, for he has not made thy ruling faculty worse than it was before.\\n\\n23. The universal nature out of the universal substance, as if it were wax, now moulds a horse, and when it has broken this up, it uses the material for a tree, then for a man, then for something else; and each of these things subsists for a very short time. But it is no hardship for the vessel to be broken up, just as there was none in its being fastened together (viii. 50).\\n\\n24. A scowling look is altogether unnatural; when it is often assumed, the result is that all comeliness dies away, and at last is so completely extinguished that it cannot be again lighted up at all. Try to conclude from this very fact that it is contrary to reason. For if even the perception of doing wrong shall depart, what reason is there for living any longer?\\n\\n25. Nature which governs the whole will soon change all things which thou seest, and out of their substance will make other things, and again other things from the substance of them, in order that the world may be ever new (xii. 23).\\n\\n26. When a man has done thee any wrong, immediately consider with what opinion about good or evil he has done wrong. For when thou hast seen this, thou wilt pity him, and wilt neither wonder nor be angry. For either thou thyself thinkest the same thing to be good that he does, or another thing of the same kind. It is thy duty then to pardon him. But if thou dost not think such things to be good or evil, thou wilt more readily be well-disposed to him who is in error.\\n\\n27. Think not so much of what thou hast not as of what thou hast: but of the things which thou hast select the best, and then reflect how eagerly they would have been sought, if thou hadst them not. At the same time, however, take care that thou dost not through being so pleased with them accustom thyself to overvalue them, so as to be disturbed if ever thou shouldst not have them.\\n\\n28. Retire into thyself. The rational principle which rules has this nature, that it is content with itself when it does what is just, and so secures tranquillity.\\n\\n29. Wipe out the imagination. Stop the pulling of the strings. Confine thyself to the present. Understand well what happens either to thee or to another. Divide and distribute every object into the causal [formal] and the material. Think of thy last hour. Let the wrong which is done by a man stay there where the wrong was done (viii. 29).\\n\\n30. Direct thy attention to what is said. Let thy understanding enter into the things that are doing and the things which do them (vii. 4).\\n\\n31. Adorn thyself with simplicity and modesty and with indifference towards the things which lie between virtue and vice. Love mankind. Follow God. The poet says that Law rules all. And it is enough to remember that law rules all.\\n\\n32. About death: whether it is a dispersion, or a resolution into atoms, or annihilation, it is either extinction or change.\\n\\n33. About pain: the pain which is intolerable carries us off; but that which lasts a long time is tolerable; and the mind maintains its own tranquillity by retiring into itself, and the ruling faculty is not made worse. But the parts which are harmed by pain, let them, if they can, give their opinion about it.\\n\\n34. About fame: look at the minds [of those who seek fame], observe what they are, and what kind of things they avoid, and what kind of things they pursue. And consider that as the heaps of sand piled on one another hide the former sands, so in life the events which go before are soon covered by those which come after.\\n\\n35. From Plato: the man who has an elevated mind and takes a view of all time and of all substance, dost thou suppose it possible for him to think that human life is anything great? It is not possible, he said. Such a man then will think that death also is no evil. Certainly not.\\n\\n36. From Antisthenes: It is royal to do good and to be abused.\\n\\n37. It is a base thing for the countenance to be obedient and to regulate and compose itself as the mind commands, and for the mind not to be regulated and composed by itself.\\n\\n38. It is not right to vex ourselves at things, For they care nought about it.\\n\\n39. To the immortal gods and us give joy.\\n\\n40. Life must be reaped like the ripe ears of corn: One man is born; another dies.\\n\\n41. If gods care not for me and for my children, There is a reason for it.\\n\\n42. For the good is with me, and the just.\\n\\n43. No joining others in their wailing, no violent emotion.\\n\\n44. From Plato: But I would make this man a sufficient answer, which is this: Thou sayest not well, if thou thinkest that a man who is good for anything at all ought to compute the hazard of life or death, and should not rather look to this only in all that he does, whether he is doing what is just or unjust, and the works of a good or a bad man.\\n\\n45. For thus it is, men of Athens, in truth: wherever a man has placed himself thinking it the best place for him, or has been placed by a commander, there in my opinion he ought to stay and to abide the hazard, taking nothing into the reckoning, either death or anything else, before the baseness [of deserting his post].\\n\\n46. But, my good friend, reflect whether that which is noble and good is not something different from saving and being saved; for as to a man living such or such a time, at least one who is really a man, consider if this is not a thing to be dismissed from the thoughts: and there must be no love of life: but as to these matters a man must intrust them to the deity and believe what the women say, that no man can escape his destiny, the next inquiry being how he may best live the time that he has to live.\\n\\n47. Look round at the courses of the stars, as if thou wert going along with them; and constantly consider the changes of the elements into one another; for such thoughts purge away the filth of the terrene life.\\n\\n48. This is a fine saying of Plato: That he who is discoursing about men should look also at earthly things as if he viewed them from some higher place; should look at them in their assemblies, armies, agricultural labours, marriages, treaties, births, deaths, noise of the courts of justice, desert places, various nations of barbarians, feasts, lamentations, markets, a mixture of all things and an orderly combination of contraries.\\n\\n49. Consider the past; such great changes of political supremacies. Thou mayest foresee also the things which will be. For they will certainly be of like form, and it is not possible that they should deviate from the order of the things which take place now: accordingly to have contemplated human life for forty years is the same as to have contemplated it for ten thousand years. For what more wilt thou see?\\n\\n50. That which has grown from the earth to the earth, But that which has sprung from heavenly seed, Back to the heavenly realms returns. This is either a dissolution of the mutual involution of the atoms, or a similar dispersion of the insentient elements.\\n\\n51. With food and drinks and cunning magic arts\\n\\nTurning the channel’s course to’scape from death.\\n\\nThe breeze which heaven has sent\\n\\nWe must endure, and toil without complaining.\\n\\n52. Another may be more expert in casting his opponent; but he is not more social, nor more modest, nor better disciplined to meet all that happens, nor more considerate with respect to the faults of his neighbours.\\n\\n53. Where any work can be done conformably to the reason which is common to gods and men, there we have nothing to fear; for where we are able to get profit by means of the activity which is successful and proceeds according to our constitution, there no harm is to be suspected.\\n\\n54. Everywhere and at all times it is in thy power piously to acquiesce in thy present condition, and to behave justly to those who are about thee, and to exert thy skill upon thy present thoughts, that nothing shall steal into them without being well examined.\\n\\n55. Do not look around thee to discover other men’s ruling principles, but look straight to this, to what nature leads thee, both the universal nature through the things which happen to thee, and thy own nature through the acts which must be done by thee. But every being ought to do that which is according to its constitution; and all other things have been constituted for the sake of rational beings, just as among irrational things the inferior for the sake of the superior, but the rational for the sake of one another.\\n\\nThe prime principle then in man’s constitution is the social. And the second is not to yield to the persuasions of the body, for it is the peculiar office of the rational and intelligent motion to circumscribe itself, and never to be overpowered either by the motion of the senses or of the appetites, for both are animal; but the intelligent motion claims superiority and does not permit itself to be overpowered by the others. And with good reason, for it is formed by nature to use all of them. The third thing in the rational constitution is freedom from error and from deception. Let then the ruling principle holding fast to these things go straight on, and it has what is its own.\\n\\n56. Consider thyself to be dead, and to have completed thy life up to the present time; and live according to nature the remainder which is allowed thee.\\n\\n57. Love that only which happens to thee and is spun with the thread of thy destiny. For what is more suitable?\\n\\n58. In everything which happens keep before thy eyes those to whom the same things happened, and how they were vexed, and treated them as strange things, and found fault with them: and now where are they? Nowhere. Why then dost thou too choose to act in the same way? and why dost thou not leave these agitations which are foreign to nature, to those who cause them and those who are moved by them? And why art thou not altogether intent upon the right way of making use of the things which happen to thee? for then thou wilt use them well, and they will be a material for thee [to work on]. Only attend to thyself, and resolve to be a good man in every act which thou doest; and remember…\\n\\n59. Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.\\n\\n60. The body ought to be compact, and to show no irregularity either in motion or attitude. For what the mind shows in the face by maintaining in it the expression of intelligence and propriety, that ought to be required also in the whole body. But all these things should be observed without affectation.\\n\\n61. The art of life is more like the wrestler’s art than the dancer’s, in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets which are sudden and unexpected.\\n\\n62. Constantly observe who those are whose approbation thou wishest to have, and what ruling principles they possess. For then thou wilt neither blame those who offend involuntarily, nor wilt thou want their approbation, if thou lookest to the sources of their opinions and appetites.\\n\\n63. Every soul, the philosopher says, is involuntarily deprived of truth; consequently in the same way it is deprived of justice and temperance and benevolence and everything of the kind. It is most necessary to bear this constantly in mind, for thus thou wilt be more gentle towards all.\\n\\n64. In every pain let this thought be present, that there is no dishonour in it, nor does it make the governing intelligence worse, for it does not damage the intelligence either so far as the intelligence is rational or so far as it is social. Indeed in the case of most pains let this remark of Epicurus aid thee, that pain is neither intolerable nor everlasting, if thou bearest in mind that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing to it in imagination: and remember this too, that we do not perceive that many things which are disagreeable to us are the same as pain, such as excessive drowsiness, and the being scorched by heat, and the having no appetite. When then thou art discontented about any of these things, say to thyself that thou art yielding to pain.\\n\\n65. Take care not to feel towards the inhuman as they feel towards men.\\n\\n66. How do we know if Telauges was not superior in character to Socrates? for it is not enough that Socrates dies a more noble death, and disputed more skilfully with the sophists, and passed the night in the cold with more endurance, and that when he was bid to arrest Leon of Salamis, he considered it more noble to refuse, and that he walked in a swaggering way in the streets-though as to this fact one may have great doubts if it was true. But we ought to inquire, what kind of a soul it was that Socrates possessed, and if he was able to be content with being just towards men and pious towards the gods, neither idly vexed on account of men’s villainy, nor yet making himself a slave to any man’s ignorance, nor receiving as strange anything that fell to his share out of the universal, nor enduring it as intolerable, nor allowing his understanding to sympathize with the affects of the miserable flesh.\\n\\n67. Nature has not so mingled [the intelligence] with the composition of the body, as not to have allowed thee the power of circumscribing thyself and of bringing under subjection to thyself all that is thy own; for it is very possible to be a divine man and to be recognized as such by no one. Always bear this in mind; and another thing too, that very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life. And because thou hast despaired of becoming a dialectician and skilled in the knowledge of nature, do not for this reason renounce the hope of being both free and modest and social and obedient to God.\\n\\n68. It is in thy power to live free from all compulsion in the greatest tranquillity of mind, even if all the world cry out against thee as much as they choose, and even if wild beasts tear in pieces the members of this kneaded matter which has grown around thee. For what hinders the mind in the midst of all this from maintaining itself in tranquillity, and in a just judgment of all surrounding things, and in a ready use of the objects which are presented to it, so that the judgment may say to the thing which falls under its observation: This thou art in substance [reality], though in men’s opinion thou mayest appear to be of a different kind; and the use shall say to that which falls under the hand: Thou art the thing that I was seeking; for to me that which presents itself is always a material for virtue, both rational and political, and, in a word, for the exercise of art, which belongs to man or God. For everything which happens has a relationship either to God or man, and is neither new nor difficult to handle, but usual and apt matter to work on.\\n\\n69. The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as the last, and in being neither violently excited, nor torpid, nor playing the hypocrite.\\n\\n70. The gods who are immortal are not vexed because during so long a time they must tolerate continually men such as they are and so many of them bad; and besides this, they also take care of them in all ways. But thou, who art destined to end so soon, art thou wearied of enduring the bad, and this too when thou art one of them?\\n\\n71. It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men’s badness, which is impossible.\\n\\n72. Whatever the rational and political [social] faculty finds to be neither intelligent nor social, it properly judges to be inferior to itself.\\n\\n73. When thou hast done a good act and another has received it, why dost thou still look for a third thing besides these, as fools do, either to have the reputation of having done a good act or to obtain a return?\\n\\n74. No man is tired of receiving what is useful. But it is useful to act according to nature. Do not then be tired of receiving what is useful by doing it to others.\\n\\n75. The nature of the All moved to make the universe. But now either everything that takes place comes by way of consequence or [continuity]; or even the chief things towards which the ruling power of the universe directs its own movement are governed by no rational principle. If this is remembered it will make thee more tranquil in many things (vi. 44; ix. 28).\\n\\n\"
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