Written 167 A.C.E.
Translated by George Long
Book Twelve
All those things at which thou wishest to arrive by a circuitous road,
thou canst have now, if thou dost not refuse them to thyself. And this
means, if thou wilt take no notice of all the past, and trust the future
to providence, and direct the present only conformably to piety and
justice. Conformably to piety, that thou mayest be content with the lot
which is assigned to thee, for nature designed it for thee and thee for
it. Conformably to justice, that thou mayest always speak the truth freely
and without disguise, and do the things which are agreeable to law and
according to the worth of each. And let neither another man's wickedness
hinder thee, nor opinion nor voice, nor yet the sensations of the poor
flesh which has grown about thee; for the passive part will look to this.
If then, whatever the time may be when thou shalt be near to thy
departure, neglecting everything else thou shalt respect only thy ruling
faculty and the divinity within thee, and if thou shalt be afraid not
because thou must some time cease to live, but if thou shalt fear never to
have begun to live according to nature- then thou wilt be a man worthy of
the universe which has produced thee, and thou wilt cease to be a stranger
in thy native land, and to wonder at things which happen daily as if they
were something unexpected, and to be dependent on this or that.
God sees the minds (ruling principles) of all men bared of the material
vesture and rind and impurities. For with his intellectual part alone he
touches the intelligence only which has flowed and been derived from
himself into these bodies. And if thou also usest thyself to do this, thou
wilt rid thyself of thy much trouble. For he who regards not the poor
flesh which envelops him, surely will not trouble himself by looking after
raiment and dwelling and fame and such like externals and show.
The things are three of which thou art composed, a little body, a little
breath (life), intelligence. Of these the first two are thine, so far as
it is thy duty to take care of them; but the third alone is properly thine.
Therefore if thou shalt separate from thyself, that is, from thy
understanding, whatever others do or say, and whatever thou hast done or
said thyself, and whatever future things trouble thee because they may
happen, and whatever in the body which envelops thee or in the breath
(life), which is by nature associated with the body, is attached to thee
independent of thy will, and whatever the external circumfluent vortex
whirls round, so that the intellectual power exempt from the things of
fate can live pure and free by itself, doing what is just and accepting
what happens and saying the truth: if thou wilt separate, I say, from this
ruling faculty the things which are attached to it by the impressions of
sense, and the things of time to come and of time that is past, and wilt
make thyself like Empedocles' sphere,
All round, and in its joyous rest reposing; and if thou shalt strive to
live only what is really thy life, that is, the present- then thou wilt be
able to pass that portion of life which remains for thee up to the time of
thy death, free from perturbations, nobly, and obedient to thy own daemon
(to the god that is within thee).
I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all
the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself
than on the opinion of others. If then a god or a wise teacher should
present himself to a man and bid him to think of nothing and to design
nothing which he would not express as soon as he conceived it, he could
not endure it even for a single day. So much more respect have we to what
our neighbours shall think of us than to what we shall think of ourselves.
How can it be that the gods after having arranged all things well and
benevolently for mankind, have overlooked this alone, that some men and
very good men, and men who, as we may say, have had most communion with
the divinity, and through pious acts and religious observances have been
most intimate with the divinity, when they have once died should never
exist again, but should be completely extinguished?
But if this is so, be assured that if it ought to have been otherwise, the
gods would have done it. For if it were just, it would also be possible;
and if it were according to nature, nature would have had it so. But
because it is not so, if in fact it is not so, be thou convinced that it
ought not to have been so:- for thou seest even of thyself that in this
inquiry thou art disputing with the diety; and we should not thus dispute
with the gods, unless they were most excellent and most just;- but if this
is so, they would not have allowed anything in the ordering of the
universe to be neglected unjustly and irrationally.
Practise thyself even in the things which thou despairest of
accomplishing. For even the left hand, which is ineffectual for all other
things for want of practice, holds the bridle more vigorously than the
right hand; for it has been practised in this.
Consider in what condition both in body and soul a man should be when he
is overtaken by death; and consider the shortness of life, the boundless
abyss of time past and future, the feebleness of all matter.
Contemplate the formative principles (forms) of things bare of their
coverings; the purposes of actions; consider what pain is, what pleasure
is, and death, and fame; who is to himself the cause of his uneasiness;
how no man is hindered by another; that everything is opinion.
In the application of thy principles thou must be like the pancratiast,
not like the gladiator; for the gladiator lets fall the sword which he
uses and is killed; but the other always has his hand, and needs to do
nothing else than use it.
See what things are in themselves, dividing them into matter, form and
purpose.
What a power man has to do nothing except what God will approve, and to
accept all that God may give him.
With respect to that which happens conformably to nature, we ought to
blame neither gods, for they do nothing wrong either voluntarily or
involuntarily, nor men, for they do nothing wrong except involuntarily.
Consequently we should blame nobody.
How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything
which happens in life.
Either there is a fatal necessity and invincible order, or a kind
Providence, or a confusion without a purpose and without a director (Book
IV). If then there is an invincible necessity, why dost thou resist? But
if there is a Providence which allows itself to be propitiated, make
thyself worthy of the help of the divinity. But if there is a confusion
without governor, be content that in such a tempest thou hast in thyself a
certain ruling intelligence. And even if the tempest carry thee away, let
it carry away the poor flesh, the poor breath, everything else; for the
intelligence at least it will not carry away.
Does the light of the lamp shine without losing its splendour until it is
extinguished; and shall the truth which is in thee and justice and
temperance be extinguished before thy death?
When a man has presented the appearance of having done wrong, say, How
then do I know if this is a wrongful act? And even if he has done wrong,
how do I know that he has not condemned himself? and so this is like
tearing his own face. Consider that he, who would not have the bad man do
wrong, is like the man who would not have the fig-tree to bear juice in
the figs and infants to cry and the horse to neigh, and whatever else must
of necessity be. For what must a man do who has such a character? If then
thou art irritable, cure this man's disposition.
If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it. For
let thy efforts be-
In everything always observe what the thing is which produces for thee an
appearance, and resolve it by dividing it into the formal, the material,
the purpose, and the time within which it must end.
Perceive at last that thou hast in thee something better and more divine
than the things which cause the various affects, and as it were pull thee
by the strings. What is there now in my mind? Is it fear, or suspicion, or
desire, or anything of the kind?
First, do nothing inconsiderately, nor without a purpose. Second, make thy
acts refer to nothing else than to a social end.
Consider that before long thou wilt be nobody and nowhere, nor will any of
the things exist which thou now seest, nor any of those who are now
living. For all things are formed by nature to change and be turned and to
perish in order that other things in continuous succession may exist.
Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power. Take
away then, when thou choosest, thy opinion, and like a mariner, who has
doubled the promontory, thou wilt find calm, everything stable, and a
waveless bay.
Any one activity whatever it may be, when it has ceased at its proper
time, suffers no evil because it has ceased; nor he who has done this act,
does he suffer any evil for this reason that the act has ceased. In like
manner then the whole which consists of all the acts, which is our life,
if it cease at its proper time, suffers no evil for this reason that it
has ceased; nor he who has terminated this series at the proper time, has
he been ill dealt with. But the proper time and the limit nature fixes,
sometimes as in old age the peculiar nature of man, but always the
universal nature, by the change of whose parts the whole universe
continues ever young and perfect. And everything which is useful to the
universal is always good and in season. Therefore the termination of life
for every man is no evil, because neither is it shameful, since it is both
independent of the will and not opposed to the general interest, but it is
good, since it is seasonable and profitable to and congruent with the
universal. For thus too he is moved by the deity who is moved in the same
manner with the deity and moved towards the same things in his mind.
These three principles thou must have in readiness. In the things which
thou doest do nothing either inconsiderately or otherwise than as justice
herself would act; but with respect to what may happen to thee from
without, consider that it happens either by chance or according to
Providence, and thou must neither blame chance nor accuse Providence.
Second, consider what every being is from the seed to the time of its
receiving a soul, and from the reception of a soul to the giving back of
the same, and of what things every being is compounded and into what
things it is resolved. Third, if thou shouldst suddenly be raised up above
the earth, and shouldst look down on human things, and observe the variety
of them how great it is, and at the same time also shouldst see at a
glance how great is the number of beings who dwell around in the air and
the aether, consider that as often as thou shouldst be raised up, thou
wouldst see the same things, sameness of form and shortness of duration.
Are these things to be proud of?
Cast away opinion: thou art saved. Who then hinders thee from casting it
away?
When thou art troubled about anything, thou hast forgotten this, that all
things happen according to the universal nature; and forgotten this, that
a man's wrongful act is nothing to thee; and further thou hast forgotten
this, that everything which happens, always happened so and will happen
so, and now happens so everywhere; forgotten this too, how close is the
kinship between a man and the whole human race, for it is a community, not
of a little blood or seed, but of intelligence. And thou hast forgotten
this too, that every man's intelligence is a god, and is an efflux of the
deity; and forgotten this, that nothing is a man's own, but that his child
and his body and his very soul came from the deity; forgotten this, that
everything is opinion; and lastly thou hast forgotten that every man lives
the present time only, and loses only this.
Constantly bring to thy recollection those who have complained greatly
about anything, those who have been most conspicuous by the greatest fame
or misfortunes or enmities or fortunes of any kind: then think where are
they all now? Smoke and ash and a tale, or not even a tale. And let there
be present to thy mind also everything of this sort, how Fabius Catullinus
lived in the country, and Lucius Lupus in his gardens, and Stertinius at
Baiae, and Tiberius at Capreae and Velius Rufus (or Rufus at Velia); and
in fine think of the eager pursuit of anything conjoined with pride; and
how worthless everything is after which men violently strain; and how much
more philosophical it is for a man in the opportunities presented to him
to show
THE END