Written 167 A.C.E.
CHAPTERS
I
II
III IV V
VI VII VIII IX
X XI XII
Book One
From my grandfather Verus I learned good morals and the government of my
temper.
From the reputation and remembrance of my father, modesty and a manly
character.
From my mother, piety and beneficence, and abstinence, not only from
evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, simplicity in my
way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich.
From my great-grandfather, not to have frequented public schools, and to
have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man
should spend liberally.
From my governor, to be neither of the green nor of the blue party at
the games in the Circus, nor a partizan either of the Parmularius or the
Scutarius at the gladiators' fights; from him too I learned endurance of
labour, and to want little, and to work with my own hands, and not to
meddle with other people's affairs, and not to be ready to listen to
slander.
From Diognetus, not to busy myself about trifling things, and not to
give credit to what was said by miracle-workers and jugglers about
incantations and the driving away of daemons and such things; and not to
breed quails for fighting, nor to give myself up passionately to such
things; and to endure freedom of speech; and to have become intimate
with philosophy; and to have been a hearer, first of Bacchius, then of
Tandasis and Marcianus; and to have written dialogues in my youth; and
to have desired a plank bed and skin, and whatever else of the kind
belongs to the Grecian discipline.
From Rusticus I received the impression that my character required
improvement and discipline; and from him I learned not to be led astray
to sophistic emulation, nor to writing on speculative matters, nor to
delivering little hortatory orations, nor to showing myself off as a man
who practises much discipline, or does benevolent acts in order to make
a display; and to abstain from rhetoric, and poetry, and fine writing;
and not to walk about in the house in my outdoor dress, nor to do other
things of the kind; and to write my letters with simplicity, like the
letter which Rusticus wrote from Sinuessa to my mother; and with respect
to those who have offended me by words, or done me wrong, to be easily
disposed to be pacified and reconciled, as soon as they have shown a
readiness to be reconciled; and to read carefully, and not to be
satisfied with a superficial understanding of a book; nor hastily to
give my assent to those who talk overmuch; and I am indebted to him for
being acquainted with the discourses of Epictetus, which he communicated
to me out of his own collection.
From Apollonius I learned freedom of will and undeviating steadiness of
purpose; and to look to nothing else, not even for a moment, except to
reason; and to be always the same, in sharp pains, on the occasion of
the loss of a child, and in long illness; and to see clearly in a living
example that the same man can be both most resolute and yielding, and
not peevish in giving his instruction; and to have had before my eyes a
man who clearly considered his experience and his skill in expounding
philosophical principles as the smallest of his merits; and from him I
learned how to receive from friends what are esteemed favours, without
being either humbled by them or letting them pass unnoticed.
From Sextus, a benevolent disposition, and the example of a family
governed in a fatherly manner, and the idea of living conformably to
nature; and gravity without affectation, and to look carefully after the
interests of friends, and to tolerate ignorant persons, and those who
form opinions without consideration: he had the power of readily
accommodating himself to all, so that intercourse with him was more
agreeable than any flattery; and at the same time he was most highly
venerated by those who associated with him: and he had the faculty both
of discovering and ordering, in an intelligent and methodical way, the
principles necessary for life; and he never showed anger or any other
passion, but was entirely free from passion, and also most affectionate;
and he could express approbation without noisy display, and he possessed
much knowledge without ostentation.
From Alexander the grammarian, to refrain from fault-finding, and not in
a reproachful way to chide those who uttered any barbarous or solecistic
or strange-sounding expression; but dexterously to introduce the very
expression which ought to have been used, and in the way of answer or
giving confirmation, or joining in an inquiry about the thing itself,
not about the word, or by some other fit suggestion.
From Fronto I learned to observe what envy, and duplicity, and hypocrisy
are in a tyrant, and that generally those among us who are called
Patricians are rather deficient in paternal affection.
From Alexander the Platonic, not frequently nor without necessity to say
to any one, or to write in a letter, that I have no leisure; nor
continually to excuse the neglect of duties required by our relation to
those with whom we live, by alleging urgent occupations.
From Catulus, not to be indifferent when a friend finds fault, even if
he should find fault without reason, but to try to restore him to his
usual disposition; and to be ready to speak well of teachers, as it is
reported of Domitius and Athenodotus; and to love my children truly.
From my brother Severus, to love my kin, and to love truth, and to love
justice; and through him I learned to know Thrasea, Helvidius, Cato,
Dion, Brutus; and from him I received the idea of a polity in which
there is the same law for all, a polity administered with regard to
equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and the idea of a kingly
government which respects most of all the freedom of the governed; I
learned from him also consistency and undeviating steadiness in my
regard for philosophy; and a disposition to do good, and to give to
others readily, and to cherish good hopes, and to believe that I am
loved by my friends; and in him I observed no concealment of his
opinions with respect to those whom he condemned, and that his friends
had no need to conjecture what he wished or did not wish, but it was
quite plain.
From Maximus I learned self-government, and not to be led aside by
anything; and cheerfulness in all circumstances, as well as in illness;
and a just admixture in the moral character of sweetness and dignity,
and to do what was set before me without complaining. I observed that
everybody believed that he thought as he spoke, and that in all that he
did he never had any bad intention; and he never showed amazement and
surprise, and was never in a hurry, and never put off doing a thing, nor
was perplexed nor dejected, nor did he ever laugh to disguise his
vexation, nor, on the other hand, was he ever passionate or suspicious.
He was accustomed to do acts of beneficence, and was ready to forgive,
and was free from all falsehood; and he presented the appearance of a
man who could not be diverted from right rather than of a man who had
been improved. I observed, too, that no man could ever think that he was
despised by Maximus, or ever venture to think himself a better man. He
had also the art of being humorous in an agreeable way.
In my father I observed mildness of temper, and unchangeable resolution
in the things which he had determined after due deliberation; and no
vainglory in those things which men call honours; and a love of labour
and perseverance; and a readiness to listen to those who had anything to
propose for the common weal; and undeviating firmness in giving to every
man according to his deserts; and a knowledge derived from experience of
the occasions for vigorous action and for remission. And I observed that
he had overcome all passion for boys; and he considered himself no more
than any other citizen; and he released his friends from all obligation
to sup with him or to attend him of necessity when he went abroad, and
those who had failed to accompany him, by reason of any urgent
circumstances, always found him the same.
I observed too
his habit of careful inquiry in all matters of deliberation, and his
persistency, and that he never stopped his investigation through being
satisfied with appearances which first present themselves; and that his
disposition was to keep his friends, and not to be soon tired of them,
nor yet to be extravagant in his affection; and to be satisfied on all
occasions, and cheerful; and to foresee things a long way off, and to
provide for the smallest without display; and to check immediately
popular applause and all flattery; and to be ever watchful over the
things which were necessary for the administration of the empire, and to
be a good manager of the expenditure, and patiently to endure the blame
which he got for such conduct; and he was neither superstitious with
respect to the gods, nor did he court men by gifts or by trying to
please them, or by flattering the populace; but he showed sobriety in
all things and firmness, and never any mean thoughts or action, nor love
of novelty. And the things which conduce in any way to the commodity of
life, and of which fortune gives an abundant supply, he used without
arrogance and without excusing himself; so that when he had them, he
enjoyed them without affectation, and when he had them not, he did not
want them.
No one could ever
say of him that he was either a sophist or a home-bred flippant slave or
a pedant; but every one acknowledged him to be a man ripe, perfect,
above flattery, able to manage his own and other men's affairs. Besides
this, he honoured those who were true philosophers, and he did not
reproach those who pretended to be philosophers, nor yet was he easily
led by them. He was also easy in conversation, and he made himself
agreeable without any offensive affectation. He took a reasonable care
of his body's health, not as one who was greatly attached to life, nor
out of regard to personal appearance, nor yet in a careless way, but so
that, through his own attention, he very seldom stood in need of the
physician's art or of medicine or external applications.
He was most ready
to give way without envy to those who possessed any particular faculty,
such as that of eloquence or knowledge of the law or of morals, or of
anything else; and he gave them his help, that each might enjoy
reputation according to his deserts; and he always acted conformably to
the institutions of his country, without showing any affectation of
doing so. Further, he was not fond of change nor unsteady, but he loved
to stay in the same places, and to employ himself about the same things;
and after his paroxysms of headache he came immediately fresh and
vigorous to his usual occupations. His secrets were not but very few and
very rare, and these only about public matters; and he showed prudence
and economy in the exhibition of the public spectacles and the
construction of public buildings, his donations to the people, and in
such things, for he was a man who looked to what ought to be done, not
to the reputation which is got by a man's acts. He did not take the bath
at unseasonable hours; he was not fond of building houses, nor curious
about what he ate, nor about the texture and colour of his clothes, nor
about the beauty of his slaves. His dress came from Lorium, his villa on
the coast, and from Lanuvium generally. We know how he behaved to the
toll-collector at Tusculum who asked his pardon; and such was all his
behaviour.
There was in him
nothing harsh, nor implacable, nor violent, nor, as one may say,
anything carried to the sweating point; but he examined all things
severally, as if he had abundance of time, and without confusion, in an
orderly way, vigorously and consistently. And that might be applied to
him which is recorded of Socrates, that he was able both to abstain
from, and to enjoy, those things which many are too weak to abstain
from, and cannot enjoy without excess. But to be strong enough both to
bear the one and to be sober in the other is the mark of a man who has a
perfect and invincible soul, such as he showed in the illness of Maximus.
To the gods I am indebted for having good grandfathers, good parents, a
good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends,
nearly everything good. Further, I owe it to the gods that I was not
hurried into any offence against any of them, though I had a disposition
which, if opportunity had offered, might have led me to do something of
this kind; but, through their favour, there never was such a concurrence
of circumstances as put me to the trial. Further, I am thankful to the
gods that I was not longer brought up with my grandfather's concubine,
and that I preserved the flower of my youth, and that I did not make
proof of my virility before the proper season, but even deferred the
time; that I was subjected to a ruler and a father who was able to take
away all pride from me, and to bring me to the knowledge that it is
possible for a man to live in a palace without wanting either guards or
embroidered dresses, or torches and statues, and such-like show; but
that it is in such a man's power to bring himself very near to the
fashion of a private person, without being for this reason either meaner
in thought, or more remiss in action, with respect to the things which
must be done for the public interest in a manner that befits a ruler.
I thank the gods
for giving me such a brother, who was able by his moral character to
rouse me to vigilance over myself, and who, at the same time, pleased me
by his respect and affection; that my children have not been stupid nor
deformed in body; that I did not make more proficiency in rhetoric,
poetry, and the other studies, in which I should perhaps have been
completely engaged, if I had seen that I was making progress in them;
that I made haste to place those who brought me up in the station of
honour, which they seemed to desire, without putting them off with hope
of my doing it some time after, because they were then still young; that
I knew Apollonius, Rusticus, Maximus; that I received clear and frequent
impressions about living according to nature, and what kind of a life
that is, so that, so far as depended on the gods, and their gifts, and
help, and inspirations, nothing hindered me from forthwith living
according to nature, though I still fall short of it through my own
fault, and through not observing the admonitions of the gods, and, I may almost say,
their direct instructions; that my body has held out so long in such a
kind of life; that I never touched either Benedicta or Theodotus, and
that, after having fallen into amatory passions, I was cured; and,
though I was often out of humour with Rusticus, I never did anything of
which I had occasion to repent; that, though it was my mother's fate to
die young, she spent the last years of her life with me; that, whenever
I wished to help any man in his need, or on any other occasion, I was
never told that I had not the means of doing it; and that to myself the
same necessity never happened, to receive anything from another; that I
have such a wife, so obedient, and so affectionate, and so simple; that
I had abundance of good masters for my children; and that remedies have
been shown to me by dreams, both others, and against bloodspitting and
giddiness...; and that, when I had an inclination to philosophy, I did
not fall into the hands of any sophist, and that I did not waste my time
on writers of histories, or in the resolution of syllogisms, or occupy
myself about the investigation of appearances in the heavens; for all
these things require the help of the gods and fortune.
Among the Quadi at the Granua.
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(Translated by
George Long)
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The Meditations
Marcus
Aurelius
CHAPTERS
I
II
III IV V
VI VII VIII IX
X XI XII
