Marcus Aurelius · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1. What is vice? It is this — something you have seen many times. And at everything that happens, keep this ready to hand: that it is this, something you have seen many times. All up and down you will find the same things, of which the old histories are full, and the middle ones, and the recent ones; of which the cities and households are full even now. Nothing is new; everything is both familiar and short-lived.
2. How else can your principles be put to death, unless the impressions that correspond to them are extinguished — and it is up to you to keep rekindling those continually. I am able to hold about this the judgment I ought; and if I am able, why am I disturbed? The things outside my own understanding are nothing at all to my understanding. Grasp this, and you stand upright. It is possible for you to begin life again. See things once more as you used to see them; for in this lies the beginning of life again.
3. The empty fuss of a procession, dramas on a stage, flocks, herds, sham fights with spears, a bone tossed to little dogs, a scrap of bread thrown into fish-ponds, the toiling and burden-bearing of ants, the scurrying about of frightened little flies, puppets jerked on strings. Amid all this, then, one must stand with good will and without disdain, yet keep in mind that each person is worth exactly as much as the things he has been earnest about are worth.
4. One must attend word by word to what is said, and impulse by impulse to what is done — in the one case seeing at once toward what end the reference is made, in the other watching carefully for what is signified.
5. Is my understanding sufficient for this task, or is it not? If it is sufficient, I use it for the work as an instrument given to me by the nature of the whole. But if it is not sufficient, either I hand the work over to whoever is able to accomplish it better — if this is not otherwise incumbent on me — or I do it as best I can, taking on someone able, with the aid of my own ruling faculty, to do what is now timely and useful for the common good. For whatever I do, whether by myself or with another, must be aimed at this alone: what is useful and fitting for the community.
6. How many who were once celebrated in song have already been handed over to oblivion — and how many who sang their praises are, long since, gone.
7. Do not be ashamed of being helped; for it is set before you to carry out your task, like a soldier in an assault on a wall. What then, if you are lame and cannot mount the battlement alone, but it is possible with another's help?
8. Do not let what is to come trouble you; for you will arrive at it, if you must, bearing the same reason you now use for what is present.
9. All things are woven together with one another, and the bond is sacred, and almost nothing is alien to anything else; for they have been arranged together and together adorn the same universe. For there is one universe out of all things, and one god through all things, and a single substance, and a single governing law, a shared reason running through every rational creature, and a single truth — since, at least, there is likewise a single completeness proper to beings of one kind who partake of that same reason.
10. Everything material is very quickly absorbed into the substance of the whole, and every cause is very quickly taken up into the reason of the whole, and the memory of everything is very quickly buried in eternity.
11. For the rational animal, the same act is according to nature and according to reason.
12. Upright, not straightened by another.
13. What the limbs of the body are to one another when united in one body, that same relation holds among rational beings even though they are separated, since they are constructed for one single work of cooperation. This thought will strike home to you more if you often say to yourself: I am a limb of the system made up of rational beings. But if, using the letter rho, you say instead that you are merely a part, you do not yet love mankind from the heart; doing good does not yet, by itself, bring you complete joy; you are still doing it merely as something fitting, not yet as doing good to yourself.
14. Whatever it wants, let it come from outside upon those things capable of being affected by such a coming. For those things, if they choose, will complain about what has befallen them; but I, unless I suppose that what has happened is bad, am not yet harmed — and the choice to withhold that judgment rests entirely with me.
15. Whatever anyone does or says, I must be good — just as if gold, or an emerald, or purple cloth, always said: 'Whatever anyone does or says, this emerald must stay true to its own hue.'
16. The ruling faculty does not trouble itself — I mean, it does not frighten itself into desire. But if someone else is able to frighten it or grieve it, let him try; for it will not, by its own judgment, turn itself into such states. Let the poor body see to it itself, if it can, that nothing happens to it, and let it speak up if something does happen to it; but the poor soul that fears, that grieves, that forms any judgment at all about such things — that will suffer nothing, for you will not bring it to such a verdict. As far as it depends on itself, the ruling faculty lacks nothing, unless it creates a need for itself; and likewise it is untroubled and unhindered, unless it troubles and hinders itself.
17. Happiness is a good guiding spirit within, or a good ruling faculty. What then are you doing here, imagination? Go away, by the gods, the way you came — I have no need of you. You have come by old habit. I am not angry at you; only go away.
18. Is someone afraid of change? What can even come to be without change? What is dearer or more proper to the nature of the whole? Can you yourself take a bath, unless the wood changes? Can you be fed, unless the food changes? Can anything else useful be accomplished without change? Do you not see, then, that your own changing is just the same kind of thing, and just as necessary, to the nature of the whole?
19. Through the substance of the whole, as through a torrent, all bodies pass, of one growth with the whole and working together with it, as our own limbs work together with one another. How many Chrysippuses has eternity already swallowed down, how many Socrateses, how many Epictetuses! Let this same thought occur to you concerning any person or thing whatsoever.
20. One thing alone distracts me: that I myself might do something which the constitution of man does not want, or in a way it does not want, or which it does not want right now.
21. Near is your forgetting of all things, and near is the forgetting of you by all things.
22. It is proper to man to love even those who stumble. This happens if the thought strikes you at the same moment that they are your kin, that they do wrong through ignorance and against their will, that soon both of you will be dead, and above all, that he has not harmed you — for he has not made your ruling faculty any worse than it was before.
23. Universal nature, working the whole substance like a lump of wax, shaped a little horse just now; then, melting that down, used the same stuff for a little tree; then for a little man; then for something else. Each of these held together for the briefest moment. It is no terrible thing for the box to be taken apart, just as it was no good thing for it to be put together.
24. A resentful look on the face is very much against nature; when it happens often, decency dies out in a person, until at last it is put out so completely that it cannot be kindled again at all. Try to grasp this very point: that it is against reason. For if even the awareness of doing wrong is gone, what reason is left for living?
25. Everything you see, the nature that governs the whole will very soon change, and out of their substance will make other things, and again out of the substance of those, still others — so that the world may always be fresh.
26. Whenever someone wrongs you, at once consider what good or bad he supposed in doing wrong. For once you see this, you will pity him, and neither be astonished nor angry. For either you yourself still suppose the same thing to be good that he does, or something else of the same kind — in which case you must forgive him; or if you no longer suppose such things to be good or bad, you will find it easier to be kind to one who has lost his way.
27. Don't picture absent things as if they were already present, but pick out from what's present the most fortunate features, and for their sake remind yourself how much they'd be missed if they weren't there. At the same time, be careful: don't let this enjoyment of them turn into a habit of over-valuing them, so that if they're ever absent, you're thrown into turmoil.
28. Roll yourself up into yourself. The rational ruling faculty, by nature, is content with itself when it acts justly, and through that very fact possesses calm.
29. Wipe out the impression. Stop the puppet-strings from jerking you. Confine yourself to the present moment of time. Recognize what is happening, to yourself or to another. Divide and separate the object before you into its cause and its matter. Think of your last hour. Leave the other person's wrongdoing right where the wrongdoing occurred.
30. Let your understanding stretch out alongside what is being said. Let your mind sink into events and into the people producing them.
31. Make yourself radiant with simplicity, self-respect, and indifference to what lies between virtue and vice. Love the human race. Follow god. He says that "all things are by convention, only the elements by reality" — it's enough to remember that all things are by convention; already that leaves very few things of any weight.
32. On death: either dispersal, if atoms; or, if it is a unity, either extinction or a change of state.
33. On pain: what is unbearable carries us off; what drags on is bearable. And the mind preserves its own calm by withdrawing into itself, and the ruling faculty is no worse for it. As for the parts hurt by the pain, let them declare their own case, if they can.
34. On reputation: look at the minds of those who seek it — what sort they are, and what sort of things they avoid, and what sort of things they pursue. And consider how, just as one heap of sand piled on another buries the ones before it, so too in this life, whatever came before gets swiftly buried under whatever follows.
35. "To a mind possessed of grandeur and a view over all time and all being, do you suppose human life looks like anything great?" "Impossible," he said. "Then won't such a person also consider death nothing terrible?" "Not in the least."
36. "It is a king's part to do good and be spoken of ill."
37. It is shameful that the face should be obedient, shaped and arranged as the mind directs, while the mind itself is not shaped and arranged by itself.
38. "For one ought not to rage at things — they care nothing about it."
39. "Grant joy to the immortal gods and to us."
40. "To harvest life like a ripe ear of corn — one stalk still standing, another not."
41. "But if I was neglected by the gods, and my child too, even this has its reason."
42. "For the good and the just are on my side."
43. Don't join in the wailing, don't get worked up.
44. "But I would answer him with good reason: 'You do not speak well, my friend, if you think a man of even the slightest worth ought to weigh the risk of living or dying, rather than looking only to this, whenever he acts — whether he acts justly or unjustly, and does the deeds of a good man or a bad one.'"
45. "For this is truly how it is, men of Athens: wherever a man takes up his post because he judges it best, or is placed there by the one commanding him, there, it seems to me, he must stay and meet the danger, giving no thought to death or to anything else except what is shameful."
46. "But, my good friend, consider whether nobility and goodness are not something other than saving one's life and being saved. For perhaps a true man ought to let go of the question of living so long or so short a time, and not cling to life, but leave that to god, and trust the women's saying that no one can escape his fate, and instead consider how he may best live out whatever time he has left to live."
47. Survey the courses of the stars as though running along with them, and keep constantly in mind the transformations of the elements into one another; for thinking on these things washes away the filth of life down here.
48. Plato put it well: when discussing human beings, one should also survey earthly things as though looking down from somewhere above — herds, armies, farms, weddings, divorces, births, deaths, the uproar of law courts, deserted lands, the varied nations of barbarians, festivals, funerals, marketplaces, the whole mixture and the order composed out of opposites.
49. Review the things that have happened before — all those changes of empires. It is also possible to foresee what is to come; for it will surely be of the same kind, and it is not possible for it to step outside the rhythm of what happens now. Hence to have observed human life for forty years comes to the same thing as observing it for ten thousand — for what more will you see?
50. "And what grew from the earth returns to the earth, but what sprouted from heavenly seed comes back again to the heavenly pole." Or else this is simply the dissolution of the interlockings among the atoms, and a similar scattering of the unfeeling elements.
51. "With foods and drinks and spells, they divert the channel so as not to die. . . . . . . . . . . . . . But when the wind blows from the gods, one must endure it, toiling without complaint."
52. More skilled at wrestling, perhaps, but not more sociable, nor more modest, nor better ordered in the face of events, nor kinder toward the failings of those near him.
53. Wherever a work can be carried out according to the reason shared by gods and men, there is nothing to fear; for wherever it is possible to gain benefit through activity that proceeds smoothly and according to one's constitution, there no harm need be suspected.
54. Everywhere and continually it is in your power to be reverently content with your present circumstance, to deal justly with the people present to you, and to apply your full skill to the present impression, so that nothing ungrasped may slip in unnoticed.
55. Do not look around at the ruling faculties of others, but look straight ahead to where nature is leading you — the nature of the whole, through the things that happen to you, and your own nature, through the things you must do. Each thing must do what follows from its own constitution; and everything else was framed to serve creatures that reason, just as elsewhere, in every instance, lesser things exist to serve the greater, while beings that reason exist for each other's sake. So then the foremost thing in man's constitution is the social instinct; second is unyielding resistance to the affections of the body — for it is proper to rational and intelligent motion to mark out its own boundaries and never be overcome by the motion of sense or of impulse, since both of these are animal-like, while the intelligent motion wishes to hold the first place and never submit to their control. And that is only just, since by nature it is fit to make use of all the rest. Third in the rational constitution is freedom from rash judgment and from deception. Let the ruling faculty, then, hold fast to these things and keep a straight course, and it has what belongs to it.
56. As one already dead, and having lived only up to now, live the rest of your life, drawn from what remains, according to nature.
57. Love only what happens to you and is spun together with your fate. For what could fit you better?
58. At every event, keep before your eyes those to whom the same things happened, and who then were vexed, astonished, complained. Where are they now? Nowhere. Well then, do you too wish to be like that? Rather than leave the shifting fortunes of others to those who shift and are shifted, why not become wholly concerned with how you yourself will use them? For you will use them well, and they will become material for you. Only pay attention, and be willing to be good to yourself in everything you do, and remember both things: that what you do matters, and also the material on which the action is done.
59. Dig within. Within is the spring of the good, and it is always able to well up, if you always keep digging.
60. The body too must be kept firm, and not thrown about in either movement or posture. For what the mind provides for the face, keeping it composed and dignified, the same discipline should apply to the entire frame. Yet all of it must be maintained without any air of contrivance.
61. The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in that it must stand ready and unshaken against what falls upon it, even unforeseen.
62. Constantly consider who these people are whose approval you want, and what ruling faculties they have. For then you will not blame those who stumble unwillingly, nor will you need their approval, once you look into the sources of their judgment and impulse.
63. "Every soul," it is said, "is deprived of truth against its will." So too with justice and self-control and kindness and everything of that sort. It is most necessary to keep this constantly in mind, for it will make you gentler toward everyone.
64. In the case of every pain, let this be ready at hand: that it is not shameful, and does not make the governing mind worse — for it does not corrupt it either as a rational being or as a social one. Indeed, for most pains, let even Epicurus's saying help you: that pain is neither unbearable nor unending, if you remember its limits and do not add to it in your imagination. And remember this too: that many things which are painful pass unnoticed under another name, being the very same thing — such as drowsiness, and being overheated, and having no appetite. So whenever you are displeased at any of these, tell yourself that you are giving in to pain.
65. Take care never to feel toward inhuman people what inhuman people feel toward human beings.
66. How do we know whether Telauges was not superior in character to Socrates? For it is not enough that Socrates died more gloriously, and argued more cleverly with the sophists, and endured the frost more hardily through the night, and when ordered to arrest the man from Salamis judged it nobler to refuse, and "strutted along in the streets" — a claim one might well doubt, if it were even true. Rather, one must consider what sort of soul Socrates had: whether he was able to be content with being just toward men and pious toward the gods, neither vainly indignant at wickedness nor enslaved to anyone's ignorance, neither receiving as something foreign whatever was allotted to him out of the whole, nor enduring it as unbearable, nor allowing his mind to share in the sufferings of his poor flesh.
67. Nature did not mix things together in the compound so tightly that it is not permitted to bound yourself off and make what is your own subject to yourself; for it is entirely possible for a man to become godlike and yet be recognized by no one. Remember this always, and this too: that living happily lies in very few things, and that just because you have despaired of becoming a logician and a natural philosopher, you should not for that reason give up being free, self-respecting, sociable, and obedient to god.
68. Live your life through without being forced, in the greatest good cheer, even if everyone shouts whatever they please, even if wild beasts tear apart the little limbs of this flesh that has grown up around you. For what, in the midst of all this, prevents the mind from keeping itself in calm, and in a true judgment about the things that surround it, and in a ready use of what is presented to it, so that judgment says to what befalls it: this is what you are in your essence, even though in appearance you seem otherwise; and use says to what falls under it: I was looking for you. For to me the present is always material for rational and social virtue, and in general for the skill of man or of god; for everything that happens is made familiar to god or to man, and is neither new nor hard to handle, but known and easy to work with.
69. This is what perfection of character means: to pass every day as if it were the last, neither throbbing with excitement nor going numb nor play-acting.
70. The gods, being immortal, are not annoyed that through so vast an age they must always, without fail, put up with people of this kind and so many of them who are worthless; and beyond that they also care for them in every way. But you, who are all but at the point of stopping, do you give up — and that though you are yourself one of the worthless ones?
71. It is ridiculous not to flee one's own vice, which is in fact possible, and instead to try to flee the vice of others, which is impossible.
72. Whatever the rational and social faculty finds to be neither intelligent nor sociable, it reasonably judges to be beneath itself.
73. When you have done someone good and another has been benefited by it, why do you go looking for a third thing beyond these, the way fools do — namely, to be thought to have done good, or to get something in return?
74. No one grows tired of being benefited, and benefit is action in accordance with nature. So do not grow tired of benefiting others, in the very act by which you benefit yourself.
75. The nature of the whole set out to make the world; and now either everything that comes to be comes about by way of consequence, or even the most sovereign things toward which the ruling faculty of the universe directs its own impulse are without reason. Remembering this will make you calmer about many things.